A Freak Event
by uberjjk
Summary: The sealing of the Kyuubi went perfectly, except something unexpected happened, something so unlikely to be considered impossible, A Freak Event. Discontinued
1. Prologue

**Authors note: if you haven't read this story before disregard this note: this is the former first four chapters condensed into one. Along with some editing, fixing of some plot holes, or inconsistencies. **

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**Origonal Summary:** What if when the Kyuubi was **sealed** into Naruto he gained the Sharingan? What would have happened to him then? How would his life have turned out? First story.

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**Disclaimer:** I will only do this once. I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form, and if you think I do, well I have this luxury resort on the moon to sell you.

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**October 8****Th**

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"_No, Kushina NO!" I yell as I stand there watching the life drain out of her eye, crying, I hear crying, I ran towards it I see a boy, he looks just like me, with whisker marks on his cheeks. My vision suddenly begins dimming and I start falling. Right before I hit the ground and darkness takes me I see two blood red eyes with what looks like a comma in each staring at me, as if looking into my soul. My last thought before the darkness takes me is, the Sharingan_

"AHHH" the Yondaime Hokage yells as he leaps up from the mountain of paperwork he was sleeping on. 'What the hell was that, a bad dream? Or was it a warning of the future?' was his reaction to that dream, or as he would call it, a nightmare. "maybe I shouldn't eat ramen before I go to sleep, nah" Minato mutters to himself as he gets back to what he was doing before he fall asleep, fighting his arch enemy. The single most evil thing in the world, Paper Work! 'Hmm. Tora has escaped; again, the Haruno clan is complaining that the Uchiha's have been copying their clan techniques, and a number of kunoichi have been complaining that the Hyuga have been peeping on them. He knew didn't he? That's why he was so ready to give me this job. Damn you Sarutobi, for cursing me with this.' With a sigh he put the sheet back down and started hoping someone would come in to save him. Conveniently right that moment an ANBU wearing a wolf mask appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Hokage-sama, we have just received warning from our outposts. It appears that the Kyuubi no kitsune is heading this way."

With this the Yondaime's face went from joy at been rescued from the dreaded paper work, to curiosity at what was happening to pure dread at the mention of the Kyuubi coming to Konoha.

"It will be here in two days" the ANBU finished off.

Quickly thinking the Yondaime began formula a plan on how to deal with this situation.

"Wolf, go get Sarutobi-sama and Kakashi and tell them to meet me in my office in Ten minutes. Then inform all the other Shinobi to assemble for an announcement by me in Three hours." The young hokage commended

"Hai Hokage-sama" was all the reply the Yondaime got before wolf vanished in a puff of smoke and leafs.

'Why can't ANBU ever use the door' Minato thought before he slumped into his chair and began thinking on what to say when the others arrived.

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**Ten minutes later: **

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"OK, I have called you two here for a good reason. The Kyuubi no Yoko is coming to Konoha, it will be here in two days time" with this the former third Hokage dropped his pipe and Kakashi to nearly dropped his book.

"What do you mean Hokage-sama, the Kyuubi is a myth" Kakashi asked while trying to keep the fear out of his voice. As even the great copy cat ninja had heard the legend of the Kyuubi, and he could honestly say he didn't want to meet it ever.

"I mean exactly what I said, the Kyuubi is coming and we have two days to prepare. Also how many times do I have to tell you to call me Minato," Minato replied while he wondered if he would have to use that jutsu.

"What do you want us to do ho…Minato-sensei?"

"Kakashi I want you to explain my plan to all the Shinobi in the meeting in Three hours. As both me and Sarutobi-san will be searching for a way to defeat the Kyuubi. Now the plan is I want all the Genin to aid in evacuating all the civilians and they will be responsible for guarding them. The Chunin will guard the wall and try to minimize the damage done to the city. All Jonin and ANBU will be responsible for the actual combat with the beast. Their job will be to do whatever they can to slow it down." The Yondaime said while hoping that no one would die he knew that there will be a lot of deaths that day.

"Hai Minato-Sensei" and with that Kakashi vanished in a cloud of smoke and leafs.

"Well then let's get started" with that the current and former hokages went to try and find a way to save Konoha.

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**October 10****th**

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"Doton: Yomi Numa" "Katon: Goukakyū no Jutsu" "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu" and the sound of many other jutsus were called out as Shinobi from all over Konoha tried to hold back the Kyuubi to give their great Yondaime hokage more time.

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**Konoha hospital**

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"What happened?" a panicked hokage asked the medic standing in front of him

"I'm sorry hokage-sama but she is in the final stages of labour, but it seems she is getting weaker every minute, I fear that it is because of the Kyuubi's demonic chakra, while we are all fighting it off with our own chakra, all her chakra is been used to prevent it from killing her child while it's in this key stage. If it wasn't for that the baby would already be dead." The medic said sadly

"So when she's given birth she'll be fine right?" the still panicked hokage asked

"I'm sorry but no. the demonic chakra has brutally attacked her body. Her organs have already started failing; there is no chance of recovery. She may live a few minutes after child birth but no longer."

At that the hokages face fell and he muttered silently "so my child will grow up alone."

Suddenly a nurse came running up "hokage-sama come quick she's nearly done" with that Minato disappeared in a yellow flash and before anyone could blink he was beside his beloved wife for what he knew would be the last time. He looked on as she pushed one final time and out came his child.

"It's a boy" said the doctor

"Naruto" everyone turned to look at Kushina and she whispered it again "call him Naruto"

"Kushina-chan please don't go don't live our son without a mother" at that she weakly shock her head

"I'm sorry Minato-kun but I can't last any longer, goodbye my love" she said as she laid back down.

"No, Kushina NO!" the Yondaime hokage yelled as he stood there and watched the life drain out of her eyes. Then just like the dream he hears crying. That sound is his is son. With that he remembers what he must do, grabbing his son he disappears in his trademarked yellow flash out to the gate where the Former third hokage stood waiting.

"Minato wait, let me go you must continue living, for the village, they need you, and for your son, as he will need you."

Smiling sadly Minato looked at his old friend and shock his head "no my friend no, as the hokage this is my responsibility. So I must go and sealed the Kyuubi, then join my wife in death. Sarutobi-san do me one last favour" "anything Minato" "take care of Naruto, make sure he grows up to love this village, don't tell anyone about his family, at least not until you feel he's ready. Finally make sure they see him as the hero he is not the demon he holds."

"Of course my friend." The weary hokage replied, knowing that his friend and successors final wish would be left unfulfilled.

After that Minato disappears in a flash one last time out into the battlefield. Pricking his finger he summons the Gamabunta for the last time.

"**MINATO, WHY HAVE YOU CALLED ME HERE?"**

"To help me stop that thing." he replies while pointing to the Kyuubi thrashing about

"**ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THAT TO HIM?"**

"There is no other way. Let's begin." With that the Yondaime hokage begins his final act as hokage. He activates the Shiki Fujin and begins the process of sealing the Kyuubi into his son, condemning him to the fate of been a Jinchuriki. As the last of the Kyuubi's soul is sucked into the seal on Naruto Gamabunta bids them goodbye

"**GOODBYE MINATO FOR THE LAST TIME. MAY YOUR SON BE TREATED WITH THE RESPECT HE DESERVES"**

With that he disappears in a massive cloud of smoke. Falling to the ground from Gambunta's head Minato managed to position himself to shield his son from the damage of the fall, while doing so would normally kill him, since he was dead anyways it didn't matter much, the young hokage lay on the ground as the last of his soul is sucked out by the Shinigami and his vision begins to black, he looks at his sons face one last time and is shocked at one he sees. He's sons eyes instead of the cerulean blue they were when he was born they are now the blood red colour of the Sharingan, at the first stage. Then as he dies his last thought is one word. Sharingan.

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**Elsewhere**

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Kakashi stood panting as hard as his body would allow. After fighting the Kyubi for only thirty minutes he was completely drained, physically, mentally, emotionally, chakra wise. It took everything he had just to stand against the beast's massive killing intent and demonic chakra. To make matters worse every single jutsu he tried was not only completely ineffective against the natural terror but drained at least five times as much chakra than normal. Then all of the sudden he felt as if the weight of the world had suddenly lifted from his shoulders. He looked up and saw that the great Kyuubi, king of demons, was gone. All he saw was trees and a big frog, 'it must be Gamabunta' he thought to himself. Then he noticed something that terrified him. He saw what looked like his sensei and hokage seem to fall from the head of the toad boss to the ground, with the frog disappearing right after. "No Minato-sensei!" Kakashi shouted as he put all his chakra into a high powered Shunshin jutsu to teleport the mile and a half between him and the fallen hokage. What Kakashi wouldn't realize till days later was that he had just broken the one mile barrier for the Shunshin which no one else had been able to cross.

"Minato-sensei!" Kakashi yelled as he looked down on his former teacher's body. Checking his pulse he realizes that his teacher, who he loved like a father, had died. Sacrificing himself to save the village from that monster. As he looks to where the Yondaime's arms reach he sees a small baby, who surprisingly was not crying. What was more shocking was the first level Sharingan in his eyes. Then all of the sudden they vanish back to the cerulean blue they were not that long ago. When Kakashi sees this he looks from the babies face to his fallen teachers and back several times before it hits him, 'that must be his son' Kakashi's thoughts then stalled 'wait wasn't he married to Kushina, she wasn't an Uchiha' then as he sees the glowing seal on the babies navel fade realization hits him 'the Kyuubi, it must have been his sealing that cased this, oooh the Uchiha's are not going to be happy, it's bad enough I have Obito's Sharingan.'

Deciding to leave the pondering to later he picks up the baby's body in his left arm and the dead hokage's in his right he begins the trek back to Konoha, as the barer of the bad news.

As he approaches the main gate he hears shouting "Kakashi" he looks up and sees the third standing there waiting for him. When he gets closer he asks him a question he already knows

"Hokage-sama is this child who I think he is?" the only reply Kakashi got was the slow nodding of the old hokage's head.

"Well then we are going to have a hell of a time then aren't we?" again all the former hokage can do is nod his head.

"We should get to your office before we talk anymore about this, there is some sensitive information you need to know hokage-sama" with that Kakashi takes off for hokage tower with the former and now the current hokage right behind him.

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**Hokage tower: minutes later**

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"What was so important we had to come all the way here to discuss Kakashi?" before he answers Kakashi lays the dead body of the Yondaime onto the ground and puts his child onto the hokage's desk

"there are a number of things, as you undoubtedly know it is clear that Minato-sensei sealed the Kyuubi into his son using the Shiki Fujin, which we clearly need to read up on to see what exactly it does to the Kyuubi and the boy. Also a piece of shocking news, when I first saw the boy lying next to Minato-sensei's body I saw he had the first level Sharingan in both his eyes" at that the old hokage, or as he would later be called old man, allowed his jaw to drop to the ground in pure shock

"The Sharingan? That's not possible" was all he could get out before Kakashi could reply

"I think it might have to do with the sealing of the Kyuubi, I get this feeling that the Sharingan is connected to the Kyuubi in some way and by sealing him into Minato-sensei's son he somehow gained the Sharingan."

The elderly hokage just stood there pondering the trouble they were in. "Well we have to tell the council about the sealing but I think we can keep the Sharingan just between the three of us." Kakashi nods to this

"Will we tell them about his parentage?"

"No Minato wouldn't want his son spoiled because of who is father is, but if the village doesn't accept him like Minato wants and something bad happens I will tell them. Also think of how much danger he would be in, just the number of Iwa Nin after him would be ludicrous." Kakashi nods slowly in understanding.

"Hokage-sama do you think I could be allowed to watch over the boy? And when he gets old train him in the Sharingan?" At this Sarutobi sits there slowly thinking then comes to a decision,

"Yes Kakashi, once he is five you are to begin secretly training him, make sure he understands that your training and his Sharingan are secret and only to be revealed if his life or the lives of his friends are in danger." "Hai Hokage-Sama, one last question, what is his name?" thinking back to what Minato and Kushina had talked about "his Name shall be Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto." With that Kakashi bids the hokage goodbye and disappears in a puff of smoke.

Seconds later the new hokage's assistant comes running in "Sandaime-sama, the council has gathered and is demanding to see you." At that Sarutobi picks up young Naruto and as he walks to the council room says

"You're going to cause me a lot of headaches aren't you?" at that little Naruto only giggles.

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**Council room**

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"Hokage-sama, where is the fourth? Where is the Kyuubi" asked the clan leader of the great and mighty, well in their minds, Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha. When he saw the baby in the thirds arms he spat in his normal disrespectful voice "and why did you bring a child to this meeting?"

Sighing, the professor, as he was commonly referred to as, put young Naruto on the long council table. "He is here for but one reason. He is here because of how Minato saved our village. Knowing there was only one way to stop the Kyuubi Minato preformed a powerful sealing jutsu that summoned the mighty Shinigami himself and calling upon him to drain the Kyuubi's soul out of its body and into a host, a Jinchuriki, but this came at a great cost. This jutsu allows the Shinigami to claim its summoner's life as well as the Kyuubi's when his host dies."

This is quickly followed by much murmuring. Then finally Fugaku is the first to respond "Kill the demon child." As he leaps to his feet in anger. This reaction causes shocked faces to not only appear on the hokage but the leader of both the Hyuga and Danzo. While the Nara and Aburame clan leaders just look like they expected this to happen. A number of members from the civilian part of the council look ready to join Fugaku.

"THERE SHALL BE NO SUCH THING DONE TO THE BOY, AND HE IS NOT A DEAMON CHILD!" the old man yelled at the top of his voice, while releasing a crippling amount of killing intent that not even the 'great' Fugaku can stand against. "He is a **Hero** to the village, **not** a demon child. Also killing him may release the Kyuubi, as Minato expected this BOY to live a normal Shinobi life, so who knows if the seal needs to last for a certain period of time before it can hold the Kyuubi's soul tight enough to send it to the Shinigami."

Burning with hatred at the loss of his own clan members to the Kyuubi, at Sarutobi-baka as he would refer to him at home, for stopping him for killing the demon child and making him look like a fool Fugaku shouts "Then at least lock him away, we can't risk the Kyuubi taking control and killing us all." Shaking his head in disappointment at the Uchiha head Sarutobi replies "No. Naruto shall become a Ninja, the seal is powered by Naruto's chakra, It is also designed to slowly drain away the Kyuubi's chakra to make Naruto's chakra level equal to that of the kyuubi, to create an unbreakable seal because the stronger he becomes the weaker the Kyuubi shall become." Danzo decides at that moment to step in

"Hokage-sama, if you would please allow me to raise Naruto in ROOT, he could become a powerful weapon for the village." In complete and utter shock the third yells out

"NO, he will NOT become a weapon. He will become a ninja, like any other citizen of Konoha and that is final. Finally, I am here by declaring it Illegal to talk about the sealing of the Kyuubi to anyone who doesn't know, especially Naruto. If you a caught breaking this law its instant death sentence with no trial." With that the Third picks up Naruto and takes him back to his office before anyone in the council room can protest.

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**Time Skip 5 years, October 10****th**

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All across Konoha a loud scream could be heard "PLEASE STOP" and all over Konoha there was laughter. Now you would think that laughing at someone in trouble would be frowned on, but in Konoha there is only a small minority who would frown on this. Today is October tenth. The day of the Kyuubi attack, and little Naruto's birthday. Today is also that Shinobi and civilians all over the village team up to try and kill poor Naruto. Now for the past few years he has been either in the company of one of his few friends, or safely out of reach, but not today. Today Naruto is out in the open and about to pay for it.

"DIE DEMON BRAT!" and "DIE DEMON" was been shouted by the ninja at the front of the mob attacking Naruto, they would shout these things as they threw kunai and shuriken are the poor boy. Luckily for Naruto his best friend, other than the old man as Naruto would refer to him, was on his way. This friend was known to many as Cat, a powerful and deadly ANBU captain, but to Naruto he is known as Kakashi.

Just as one of the ninjas is about to throw another Shuriken Naruto a loud chirping is heard. It sounds almost like there were a thousand chirping birds. Along with the sound there is a large white coming from the sky. The Ninja looks up to see Cat falling towards him with a Chidori in hand. Before he can even think of moving the Chidori strikes and cats hand is sticking out of the ninja's chest. At the shocked looks of all those around him Kakashi looks up and yells, while pulling his hand out of the dead man's chest,

"ALL OF YOU ARE TO LEAVE NOW! UNLESS YOU WANT TO JOIN YOUR FRIEND HERE?"

Terrified of the Legendry ANBU captain, and the massive levels of killing intent he is producing, the mob quickly run off screaming. Kakashi turning around to see Naruto slowly starting to stand up, looking at the gashes his has all over his body, Kakashi is shocked by the boys healing speed, as he had never seen Naruto this injured before, the wounds were just sealing themselves up. 'Hmm if they keep healing at this rate he'll be fine a couple minutes'

At the moment Naruto finishes getting up and sees just who is standing in front of him, "KAKASHI-NIISAN" Naruto yelled in excitement completely forgetting his rapidly healing injuries

Sighing Kakashi replies "Naruto how many times have I told you to call me Cat when out in public, remember when I wear this ANBU mask I'm cat, we can't have my enemies finding out who I am and killing my friends can we?"

Pondering this for a second, then two, then three... after about 10 seconds Kakashi starts to wonder if he broke his little brothers brain.

"Ok Kaka...Cat-san" frowning under his mask at how long it took Naruto to decide upon that small sentence he decided that since he was five today that now would be the perfect time, quickly grabbing Naruto and performing a Shushin to his apartment, as he knew Naruto's wasn't secure enough for what he was about to ask Naruto.

"Naruto, you want to be a ninja right?" at this Naruto sucks in a deep breath of air and yells at the top of his voice

"HELL YES, I'm going to be not only the best ninja but the Hokage someday then everyone will have to respect me and stop been so mean to me." Frowning slightly at both the volume and the fact that Naruto thinks everyone is mean to him.

"Well to become the hokage you have to be the strongest right?" at this Naruto nods "well how do you get strong?" "that's easy, training" nodding at this "good, so how do you feel about going to train with me for a while?" then Naruto just froze. After ten seconds Kakashi was starting to worry "Naruto? Naruto" "WOOH HOOO, TRAINING I GET TO DO SOME REAL NINJA TRAINING!" Naruto yells while doing some strange dance

Sighing at what it seems he got himself into Kakashi decides to stop the dance "Naruto stop that, there are three conditions you need to obey if you want me to train you" stoping suddenly Naruto faces Kakashi with a questioning look on his face "ok condition one: You can't tell anyone about me training you, if you do I might get in trouble because the council doesn't want me to train you. Second: if I train you, you can't show off your new strength unless someone's life is in danger. Third: I want you to swear to use all your power and heart to protect those that are precious to you ok?" thinking for a minute Naruto replies "Hai, Kakashi-sensei, I Swear that I will keep our training secret, not show off my new power and I swear even more so on both my life and my dream to become hokage that I will do anything to protect those that are precious to me" nodding at this Kakashi grabs Naruto and just before Shunshining both of them to training ground 0, only known of by the third hokage, fourth hokage, Kakashi and a few other high level nin.

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**Time Skip 3 years**

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It had been three long years since Kakashi became Naruto's sensei; in those years, Naruto had trained hard, extremely hard. He had trained to the point where he could no longer stand at the end of nearly every day. Today was one of the few days in which Naruto did not crumble to the ground at the end of his training. Kakashi had to go early and made sure Naruto stopped training, because as Kakashi once said "Sleeping all night on the ground is not good for a ninja's health, and if you're sick you can't train." At that Naruto immediately listened to Kakashi to make sure he wouldn't get sick and miss out on training. The reason for this was that Naruto loved to train. He loved spending time with someone. He loved learning.

Kakashi learnt that Naruto, just like his father, was like a sponge. If you don't train him properly he won't learn a thing, but if you set aside the time to properly train and instruct him he could grasp the most difficult subjects in days. Now while saying that Kakashi also learnt a hard lesson, while Naruto can learn things quite rapidly, he sucked at mastering those things he learned. Because you see, to master something you have to work hard for long periods of time. That was not something that meshed well with Naruto's hyperactive personality and short attention span.

But that has nothing to do with what is about to happen. You see nobody knows this yet, but right now one of those little points in time is about to happen. At one of these points, even the slightest change can have massive results; that can change the entire path of the universe. What is about to happen isn't just a slight change, it's a large change. As you see, Naruto doesn't know this yet, but he is about to change the path of his world forever.

As Naruto is walking home he sees Sasuke trying to improve his shuriken accuracy, but he doesn't know its Sasuke, not yet anyways. So Naruto being Naruto and seeing someone in need of help, he walks over to Sasuke.

"Hi" Naruto comments in the middle of Sasuke's throw. Startling Sasuke, causing him to spin towards Naruto's voice while throwing the Shuriken. The result of this been the shuriken wising pass Naruto's head.

"What the hell?!" was Naruto's reply as he barely avoided having a few holes in his head.

"Who are you?" the small and now afraid Sasuke, as he nearly killed someone, asked in his small, child voice.

"My names Uzumaki Naruto, what is your name?" Naruto asked in his completely and utterly innocent manner.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that, especially ninjas in training." said Sasuke as he started to build up some confidence in talking to this civilian child.

"You're a ninja too? Cool, I'm a ninja, well not yet; I haven't even entered the academy yet. My teacher, he said due to my training with him, it would be pointless to go to the academy right now and that I should only take the last two years to get some friends my age before graduating."

"So you're a ninja in training eh?" asked the little Uchiha in disbelief at someone he had passed off as a useless civilian was actually been trained by someone, probably some great ninja as only great ninja were allowed to take an apprentice, which is what this sounds like. Realizing that if what this Naruto's teacher said about him been ahead of the academy was true then he might be able to help him with his problem Sasuke asked "Ano. Could you help me with my shuriken accuracy?" asked Sasuke in a very weak voice, you see asking for help from anyone let alone a non-Uchiha was considered a great dishonour, as Uchiha's are meant to be the best and not need anyone's help. Sasuke reasoned his request as the kid, Naruto, had to be being trained by some great Nin, and even an Uchiha can use the help of a great Nin. So it's alright, right?

"Sure no problem, first could you throw one at that training log?" Naruto asked in an extremely excited voice. The chance to help someone, and the fact that that person had asked for help was so exciting to poor little Naruto that he was ready to explode in joy. For no one his age would play with him, or even talk to him. When he got near a kid his age their parents would come over and take them away. That's why Naruto trained so hard, because he had no one to spend time with doing anything else.

"Hai" was all the reply Naruto got as Sasuke proceed to throw the shuriken with all his strength at the target, but like all the others it was halfway to the edge of the board. Nowhere near had the 100 percent bulls eyes had that Itachi got.

"I know exactly what's wrong"

"What?" asked an excited Sasuke at the chance to improve and maybe catch up with his brother. "It's the way you throw; you need to throw with a flick of your wrist not your entire arm. If you use your arm it makes the shuriken wobble in flight causing it to go off target. While a flick of the wrist sends it flying in a nice straight line, you only use your entire arm if you're really close and need to make a big impact as you have more force but less accuracy"

Without even replying Sasuke immediately turned around, picked up another shuriken, and tried again. This time getting it inside the bull's eye, while not the dead centre, it was much better. "Thanks, well I got to go. Cya, Naruto-san." And with that off ran the little Uchiha, back home. Leaving Naruto sitting there slowly thinking. 'I made a friend; I made a friend, I MADE A FRIEND!' at that Naruto started dancing around doing that disturbing happy dance of his.

* * *

**Uchiha clan district 10 minutes later**

* * *

Outside the gates to the Uchiha clan district stood two ANBU blocking entry, seeing this as he ran up to the gates Sasuke asked "What's going on?" still too excited from getting better at throwing shuriken to think about what reason ANBU would be blocking entry to the Uchiha estate.

"Who are you?" asked a bird masked ANBU in a deep voice.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. So why are you blocking the gates to my clan district?" even though Sasuke could not see the man's face, he instantly knew that a frown had developed on his face from his body language.

"Listen kid. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your clan's dead." at this, Sasuke just froze "From the looks of it, it seems that your brother, Itachi killed them all." At this, Sasuke just collapsed from mental overload. Sighing the ANBU made a shadow clone and had him carry the poor boy to the hospital, where he could sleep in peace and safety, Kami knows that he will need it after what he just heard.

* * *

**Konoha General Hospital: the next day**

* * *

A very groggy Uchiha awoke to the bright lights and white ceiling of a hospital. 'What am I doing here, why aren't I at home, home...MOM! DAD! ITACHI!' the last word was thought with the voice of deep Hatred, we all know Sasuke uses this voice when he speaks of his brother. Remembering all this, our Uchiha decides he needs to be alone. So in his desire to be alone he jumps out the window and runs away to the one place he knows he can be alone, the old jetty near the lake that no one ever visits anymore. Sasuke in one hundred and ten percent 'brood' modes sat on the edge of the jetty and began to well brood. Fortunately for this world, this wouldn't last long

* * *

**Training grounds: 20 minutes later**

* * *

Naruto stood there panting heavily as he had just finished a sparring match with Kakashi while keeping the Sharingan on for the entire time. The reason this was so draining is due to a fact that very few people know- the chakra usage of the Sharingan is directly proportional to what you're using it for. Just using it for advanced vision would leave a very low chakra drain, but doing more advanced things, such as copying jutsu's and worst of all using it in a sparring match to predict the enemy's movements, which takes a lot of effort and doesn't work very well without the third stage.

"That's enough Naruto, don't want you to drop from chakra exhaustion now do we?" said Kakashi while trying to cover up his own panting. 'How could an eight year old kid have that much stamina? We were sparring for at least 3 hours, must be thanks to Kushina-chan, she always had insane stamina, which the seal forcing Naruto to absorb the Kyuubi's chakra made even more insane'

"Hai Kakashi-sensei" with that Naruto having seemingly recovered from his exhaustion walked off. While he was walking he thought he heard the sound of crying. Heading towards it, what Naruto will see and do changes everything, for better or worse is unknown. 'Isn't that Sasuke? What he doing on the jetty? Why does it look like has been crying? Well I should ask him.'

"Hey Sasuke what is wrong?" asked the little Naruto not realizing the kind of pain those words would bring.

"Go away." Sasuke choked while holding back his tears so Naruto wouldn't see them. He didn't realize that Naruto wouldn't care that he was crying, or that Naruto had noticed that Sasuke's eyes were red from the crying he had done before been interrupted.

"No, now tell me, what's wrong?" Naruto demanded. Sasuke while frowning outwardly as a sign of irritation that the blond would not go away, inside he was happy that he wasn't going to be alone. "There all dead"

"...what?" was all Naruto could say. "My clan. My entire clan. All dead. Everyone." With these few words Naruto's face went from sorrow, to regret and back to sorrow before asking "What happened?"

Sasuke deciding it might be better to tell someone decided that Naruto would be that person. "It all happened just after I meet you. On my way home, as I approached the clan gates I noticed two ANBU standing there blocking my way. So I asked them what was going on. Then they. Then they" at this Sasuke started to break down again. "They told me that my entire clan had been killed. Everyone except me. They also said." Then he just stopped. Really wondering what they said to cause this reaction, Naruto decided to push just a bit more. "What did they say?", "They said, he killed them, my own brother killed my entire clan. Everyone but me." With that Sasuke starting crying harder as the grief overwhelmed him. Remembering Kakashi's favourite line, 'They who disobey the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are less then trash.' Naruto decided that he could break Kakashi's rule and show Sasuke.

"Sasuke." "What?" sobbed Sasuke as he showed no signs of recovering any time soon. "You're not alone, your brother didn't kill everyone" as Sasuke looked up to ask what he meant Naruto turned on his Sharingan on. When Sasuke saw this, he immediately began to recover. "What. How? Are you an Uchiha?" asked Sasuke in quick succession, the thought of having some family, any family left starting to bring great joy to what was becoming his cold heart. "Slow down, I don't know, and no, well I don't think so. All I know is I am an orphan, just like you are now, and that my last name is Uzumaki." Not caring about those small things, Sasuke decided just to go with the flow and did something that neither he nor Naruto had been expected. He gave Naruto a big hug. A little startled by this Naruto decided to take a gamble "Hey Sasuke, could you wait here a couple minutes, I need to quickly check something." After recovering a brief nod Naruto vanished in the customary puff of smoke associated with the Shushin.

* * *

**Training grounds:**

* * *

Kakashi laid on the ground of the training grounds in complete exhaustion. While he had berated Naruto many times about training to exhaustion and spending the night in the training grounds, this time he had done exactly that. He was far too tired to move his fingers let alone think of going home. It had been all of ten seconds after Naruto disappeared from his sight that Kakashi collapsed into the exact spot we find him now.

Seeing his blonde student approaching Kakashi groaned 'damn it, now I'm going to get a lecture from Naruto about how I'm always telling him not to train till he drops and yet here I am doing exactly the opposite of what I tell him' as he saw Naruto standing right over him opening his mouth Kakashi thought 'here it comes'

"Kakashi-sensei, can my friend Uchiha Sasuke join our training sessions?"

'Well that was defiantly not what I was expecting' thought Kakashi as he started to reply

"Naruto you know that my lessons have to remain secret"

Naruto giving Kakashi a hard look said "I know, but his entire clan was killed yesterday, he's all alone, besides I kinda um showed him my Sharingan."

Just as Kakashi was about to berate Naruto for revealing his Sharingan Naruto hastily interrupted "I know, but you always say 'They who disobey the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are less then trash.', and Sasuke is a comrade, I couldn't leave him their thinking he was all alone, I know how it feels to be alone." Naruto finished the last part with his head down at remembering how he is all alone, expect for his Kakashi-sensei and the old man.

Kakashi, seeing the look in Naruto's eyes, decided to let Sasuke join, besides not only where they the only other two wielders of the Sharingan loyal to Konoha, but he could use it as leverage against the council, if they find out about his training and try and stop him from training Naruto he will threaten them with stopping to train Sasuke as well. Voicing his answer Kakashi said "fine, he can train with us, but bring him here first"

Before Kakashi could even blink Naruto was gone in what had to be the fastest Shushin he had ever seen.

* * *

**The old jetty:**

* * *

Appearing right next to Sasuke Naruto quickly started talking before Sasuke could comment on his sudden appearance "hay Sasuke guess what"

Still in a state of shock over, well everything to do with this blonde ball of energy Sasuke said "what?"

"I managed to get my teacher to agree to train you to, come on" and before Sasuke could reply Naruto had grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off to training ground zero with a Shushin.

* * *

**Training ground zero:**

* * *

In front of Sasuke laid Hatake Kakashi, the copy cat Nin, the only known user of the Sharingan other then the Uchiha clan. One of the most feared men in all of the elemental countries. Paralysed from chakra exhaustion.

Sasuke was also paralysed but this was from shock, the great Hatake Kakashi was Naruto's teacher, well it would explain how Naruto could use the Sharingan without being taught by a member from the Uchiha clan.

Speaking in a very tired voice Kakashi said "Sasuke, if you want me to train you there are three conditions"

Leaning in closer Sasuke anxiously awaited these conditions

"First, you can't tell anyone about me training you or Naruto, if you do I might get in trouble because the council doesn't want me to training Naruto, and they would probably get upset about you being around Naruto, don't worry they just don't like him. Second: if I train you, you can't show off your new strength unless someone's life is in danger. Third: I want you to swear to use all your power and heart to protect those that are precious to you ok?"

Giving Kakashi a swift nod Sasuke replies "I agree Kakashi-sensei, I wouldn't want to get you or my new friend Naruto here in trouble, I also agree to use my power to protect those that a precious to me, even if right now I don't have anyone, but what about the second one? Why can't I show off my strength?"

To that Kakashi quickly replied "well you are already a pretty big target because you are an Uchiha, the last Uchiha, but if everyone thought you were weak they would underestimate you, which gives you a key advantage, remember a ninja's life is all about deception. And what greater deception then making the enemy think you are weak?"

Nodding once more Sasuke agreed. Then Kakashi said "well then, we'll start training tomorrow, until then could one of you carry me home?"

* * *

**Authors notes:**

Well there it is my first ever story. I hope you all like it, in case any of you are wondering, for parings, NaruHina are defiantly going to happen, any others are up in the air. All other pairings are atm undetermined.

I hope you all enjoy my condensation and edits of the first four chapters. I've been planning to do this for a while and with the holidays I've finally managed to get around to doing it.

Some issues I thought I would mention

Kakashi's mask: when I originally wrote the scene with Kakashi I couldn't find any information of what his mask actually was. Nor could I find any quality pictures of it, the only one I saw looked a lot like a cat. Even though I have now seen better pictures with it as a dogs mask I'm keeping his mask as a cat, as a joke. A joke made by the Yondaime. I'm assuming that as the ANBU report directly to the hokage that he would pick out their masks himself, now if you are Minato, a fun loving person, who loves a good prank or two, whose wife is a well known prankster. What mask would you give to your only surviving student (I assume that rin died at some point from when Kakashi said that all his friends and family are dead) who has a clear affinity to dogs? A cat mask, plus it helps with his moniker as 'the copy CAT ninja'. Plus I just find the idea of Kakashi in a cat mask funny.

ANBU: If what tobi said is true and the third knew about the massacre he would have had ANBU guards on ready for when Itachi attacked, to make sure no one escaped, and to make sure no one got in. so once the massacre was over the ANBU appeared publicly (before they were hidden) to keep people out of the 'crime scene'

Plot error: you know, I'm surprised no one ever pointed out that in chapter three Kakashi made Naruto promise not to tell anyone about his training yet right at the start of the original chapter four Naruto told Sasuke about it.


	2. Graduation

**Time skip 4 years**

* * *

As the sun slowly rises in the east, light begins to fill the village, and people begin to slowly rise from their beds for yet another day in their lives. One young child has already been awake for hours. In the middle of the night, when there was no one awake to catch him, this young boy scaled the great Hokage Mountain and did something no one had ever dared to do before; he painted, yes painted, the Hokage's faces. Every single one of them. The first people to discover what happened are the ninjas, every one of them shocked that someone had been able to paint the faces without being caught.

When one old man we are all familiar with goes to his window to find out what all the commotion is about, the pipe that was slowly rising to his mouth falls. For the first thing he sees is his face, on the mountain, painted. Then he sees the second's and the first's faces, also painted. Gathering his courage he dares to look at the fourth's face. There, he sees the face of the greatest Hokage ever. Painted, even worse than the other three Hokage's. There is but one thing the old Hokage can do at this. He yells. Really loud. You might find yourself wondering; what did he yell; well the answer is two simple words. "UZUMAKI NARUTO!!"

All over the village his voice can be heard. In a record time of ten seconds every single ANBU is out of the ANBU barracks and on the rooftops hunting for the blonde prankster. One might think that wearing a jacket, described by Kakashi and the third as 'kill me' orange, and matching pants would make it easy to find him. That is not the case. After an hour of searching, the village's opinion of the ANBU is dropping to a new low. If they can't find one blonde 12 year old in a 'kill me' orange jacket, what hope do they have for finding real ninja invading? What nobody but Kakashi and Sasuke knows is that the reason Naruto wears bright orange clothing is not because he is stupid, or colour blind, or just crazy, but because it makes it easier to find him. For you see, that is the entire reason he does these pranks. Not for fun, although he finds them highly entertaining, or to be cruel to the villagers, but because it makes for great stealth training to be chased around. What more could you want then to be trained by the entire ANBU and most of the Jonin? Even if it was without their knowledge, still it was a great way to train your stealth and avoidance skills.

All of a sudden a cry was heard "I FOUND HIM!" yelled a random Jonin, and with that. They all began to circle in on Naruto. It was time for Naruto's next amazing feat. Out running all these ninja, as he led them on a chase around the entire village, three times. Gai, who was unaware of the reason they ninja where chasing Naruto, started yelling about youth and how youthful Naruto must be for his youthfulness to inspire so many ninja to be out training so hard in the morning. Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Just not the one the ANBU where hoping for. After 2 hours of chasing him all over town, the ANBU where tired. Naruto, who was slightly out of breath, decided to rest for a minute by hiding so it looked like he was a part of the wall. While the ANBU, then the panting Jonin, passed right by; one lone Chunin stopped at looked at where he was hiding, pulling away Naruto's cloak he uses his most powerful jutsu, the gigantic head jutsu.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WHERE DOING PAINTING THE FACES OF THE HOKAGE?" yelled a very irate Iruka. "THANKS TO YOU CLASS HAS BEEN DELAYED FOR OVER AN HOUR, SO WE ARE NOW GOING TO GO TO THE ACADEMY WHERE YOU WILL ACTUALLY PAY ATTENTION FOR ONCE. THEN AFTER THAT I AM DRAGGING YOU TO THE HOKAGE FOR AN EXPLAINATION!"

Hearing Iruka's voice echo across Konoha, the ninja chasing Naruto knew he was caught and would face hell after class. A number of them cursing the fact that Naruto had been caught by a mere Chunin, while they had failed to even get close. The majority though, cursed that the demon brat had got away from them

* * *

**5 minutes later: Class room**

* * *

"Ok class, now we were going to practice a new Ninjutsu for use if your graduate, but thanks to Naruto we don't have time for that so we are going to all practice the transformation jutsu. " the second Iruka finished talking, the class let lose a gigantic sigh. With many people muttering things such as "nice one Naruto" or "thanks a lot failure" only Sasuke seemed not to care. Probably because he was highly amused watching ANBU and Jonin look for, and then chase Naruto for a total of 4 hours.

"Now class" said Iruka getting a little impatient. At that yet another sigh was let loose before the class slowly started filing down to the front of the room. "Ok Sakura, you're up"

"Henge no jutsu" with that, Sakura transformed into a perfect replication of Iruka. "Nice job Sakura, next, Sasuke"

"Henge no jutsu" as the smoke disappeared another perfect replication of Iruka stood there. "Me again...good job Sasuke, next, Naruto"

"I'm going to show you something special" "No Naru..." was all that Iruka could get out before Naruto yelled out "Sexy no jutsu" when the smoke started to clear, where Naruto was just standing, stood a beautiful, naked girl, with smoke covering certain locations. At the sight of Naruto's. Jutsu... Iruka went flying backwards with the telltale spray of blood from his noise, signifying one thing, he was a pervert. Somehow Iruka recovered at an insane rate, maybe he wasn't such a big pervert as the others?

"NARUTO YOU IDIOT, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? ARE YOU TRYING TO FAIL THE GRADUATION EXAM?" yelled an angry Iruka with an insanely over powered giant head jutsu. "Sorry Iruka-sensei" Naruto said sheepishly with his hand behind his back.

* * *

**The next day: Graduation day: Class room**

* * *

"Next up, Sasuke Uchiha." called Mizuki-sensei from the testing room. Getting up from his seat, Sasuke turns to Naruto, "You had better not fail Naruto." was all he said before Sasuke proceeded off into the classroom. All the girls in the room glared at Naruto. For both the "jutsu" Naruto used yesterday and the fact that he was the only one Sasuke would talk to, or even acknowledge existed. Naruto suddenly becoming nervous from both the fact that he was next up and the angry stares he was getting. 'What did I do to piss them off? Or for that matter, the entire village?' just as Naruto finished his line of thought, Sasuke exited the exam room proudly wearing the leaf headband on his forehead.

"Next up, Naruto Uzumaki." at this the blonde got up and walked into the exam room. All his fears suddenly gone with a confidence that just seemed to come out of nowhere at times. "Ok Naruto please creates 3 bunshins" requested Mizuki 'THE CLONE JUTSU? AWW MAN IT'S MY WORST JUTSU!' Naruto runs through the hand signs, Tiger, Boar, Ox stopping on dog "BUNSHIN NO JUTSU" with that a massive ball of blue energy surrounds him. Iruka and Mizuki stand there in shock. 'He's summoning so much chakra it's visible' they both thought at the same time. The room filled with smoke. When it cleared, in front of them where just two things, a really disappointed looking Naruto and a pathetic half dead clone that looks nothing like the original lying on the floor. Getting upset at this for a reason he can't understand, Iruka yells at Naruto "NARUTO YOU FAIL." feeling rejected Naruto jumps out the window and runs off to be alone. Leavening a regretful Iruka to wonder why he did what he just did, giving Mizuki a chance to escape unnoticed and follow Naruto.

* * *

**10 minutes later: outside the class room**

* * *

Naruto sad there depressed on the swing that hung from the tree across the road from the academy. 'I failed. I worked so hard. On my own. With Sasuke. With Kakashi-sensei. Why did I fail? What's wrong with me? I can summon thousands of perfect Kage bunshin but not a single correct normal bunshin.' Just then Mizuki pops down behind him. "Iruka-sensei, tough, but he's not against you." "Then why? Why only me?" "He wants you to be strong, with all his heart. He's like you; you know, no family, no parents." "But then why?" "You'll never be strong if he goes easy on you" "but I really wanted to graduate, with Sasuke." Noticing the friendly relationship between the Kyuubi and the last Uchiha convinces Mizuki that he has to kill him tonight to keep the last Uchiha safe. "Ok then, Naruto, I guess I'll have you tell you. There's another way to pass."

Now you might think that training with Kakashi for seven years and Sasuke for four years would have made Naruto a little smarter than to fall for what Mizuki said, and normally you would be right. The reason that's not the case right now is that sorrow tends to mess with ones thinking ability. So, in this weak frame of mind Naruto jumps at this. "Really? How? Tell me. Tell me. Please Mizuki-sensei" smiling at how the demon brat is falling so easily for his plan, Mizuki continues. "Now, normally I wouldn't tell you this, as it's only used for the most talented students to test their skill, and we decided to stop using it a couple years ago but it was never officially stopped. So if you do this, you can still pass. What you have to do is sneak into Hokage tower; at the very top of the tower is a room that's heavily guarded. Inside are a bunch of secret scrolls that only elite ninja in the village are allowed to read. You need to sneak in there and take the biggest one, that's the scroll of sealing, then sneak out to this spot in the forest and learn one jutsu from the scroll before I catch you, you will pass." Naruto in joy that not only does he get a harder test but he gets to learn a cool new move from it, starts doing his happy dance. Starting to get scared at Naruto's crazy dance, Mizuki tells Naruto "ok Naruto, you have from 7 till 8 tonight to do it. Otherwise you fail, understood?" snapping out of his dance Naruto nods before running off to plan. "Excellent, the demon fell for it. Now, not only will I gain the forbidden scroll, but will be a hero for killing the demon. This is my best idea yet" with that, Mizuki teleports away while laughing evilly.

* * *

**7:30 some forest.**

* * *

"Ok, so what's the first Jutsu on here, Shadow clone Jutsu, aww man I already know this one. Ok what's next, shadow clone great explosion hmm what's it say." Naruto says aloud to himself for some reason, while sitting in the middle of the forest reading from the scroll.

"Shadow clone, great explosion. Also known as Kage Bunshin Daibakuha, creates a special type of shadow clone. Unlike a normal shadow clone, it does not transfer knowledge back when it is destroyed. So it is useless for training or spying. It has a special property that makes it much more useful than the normal shadow clone for combat. Unlike a normal shadow clone that disappears in a puff of smoke when dispelled these explode in a large explosion capable of killing or severely injuring anyone nearby. They can also be remotely detonated at the will of the clone's creator. Because of the large explosions caused by this jutsu and the fact that it requires twice as much chakra for this type of clone rather than a normal shadow clone, this is an A-rated kinjutsu and should only be used by experienced Jonin."

"Ah well, I'll learn it anyways I'm sure they won't mind, as Mizuki-sensei never said which jutsu to learn, but it is strange that to pass the test you have to learn a kinjutsu, oh well."

* * *

**7:58 same location**

* * *

"Ah, finally got it down, now I'm certain to graduate, well I've probably got a minute or two. I should probably memorize one more jutsu before they catch me" with that Naruto opens the scroll again. "Hmm swamp of the underworld what's that?"

"Doton: Yomi Numa, an advanced A-rank Jutsu. The user creates special swamp under the feet of the target. The size and depth of the swamp is determined by the amount of Chakra used in it. If it's not deep enough you can partially submerge someone/thing allowing you to capture targets. Once someone/thing is completely submerged in the swamp they are lost forever. Due to the danger of this attack and the massive chakra requirements for this jutsu this is an A-ranked Kinjutsu."

"Cool, I have to learn this. It's good for both attacking and for capturing people." With that Naruto quickly memorized the hand signs just as he finished, Iruka appeared

"Naruto, I caught you." Said Iruka, Naruto just looked sheepish "aww man Iruka-sensei, I only had time to master one jutsu, but I did, so now I'm going to show it to you and I'm going to graduate, right? That's how it works? Anyone who learns a jutsu from this scroll graduates, right?" Iruka, looking shocked at this asks "where did you get an idea like that from?" Naruto looking dumbfounded, "Mizuki-sensei told me, he told me how to find the scroll and..." Naruto stops as he starts to realize he was tricked. Just then a whizzing sound can be heard. Iruka slams into Naruto knocking both of them out of the way of at least a dozen thrown kunai.

"Why Mizuki-sensei?" was all Naruto could ask of his former teacher-turned would be assassin. "Because not only could I get my hands on the forbidden scroll, but I could kill you, the Kyuubi no kitsune, and become the hero of the village." At this, Naruto looked puzzled.

"So, you never wondered why everyone hates you? Why you are ignored? Why you are abused? It's because, even thing you have been told is one big lie. The fourth was too weak to kill the Kyuubi so he sealed it in you. Your body has been claimed by the fox. You are the nine tailed demon fox."

At this, Naruto began to crack. Quickly stepping in, Iruka yelled out to Mizuki "you know what you have done? You have broken the thirds law; you know the penalty for that is death." At that, Mizuki just laughed "HA, when I kill you and the Kyuubi, I can just say that you found the fox first and he killed you, while I managed to kill him, but the scroll was 'destroyed' in the fight, giving me both the scroll and becoming the villages hero for finishing the Kyuubi off like the third was too weak to do" hearing this, Naruto just snapped and ran away "NO NARUTO!" Iruka yelled as his favourite student ran off into the dark. "It's too late Iruka, the fox is going to take the scroll and destroy the village with it."

With that Iruka runs after Naruto, with Mizuki following. While he's not looking, Iruka henges into Naruto and Mizuki henges into Iruka.

"Naruto give me the scroll." Called out the henged Mizuki. At that, Naruto spins around into a flying drop kick. "How did you know it was me?" asked Mizuki as he transformed back, just then the henged Iruka transforms back "cus I'm Iruka"

"Why are you defending the demon brat? Don't you hate the Kyuubi for killing your parents?" unknown to both Iruka and Mizuki, Naruto was hiding behind a tree right near them listening to what they were saying

"yes its true I do hate the Kyuubi" replied Iruka, then Naruto's thoughts filled with sorrow and doubt 'so Iruka never really believed in me, it was all an act, he hated me all along' "but Naruto's not the Kyuubi, he is Naruto Uzumaki, one of my students, sure he may not be the best, but he's going to become Hokage one day." With that announcement, Mizuki scrunched his face into a scowl while all traces of doubt and sorrow left Naruto leavening him with but one thought 'Iruka really did believe in me'

"Well Iruka I was going to save you until after I killed the Kyuubi brat, but now you're just going to die." With that, he threw a shuriken at Iruka, before Iruka could think about dodging; it was floating 2 inches from his face, with Naruto's hand through the hole in the middle. In an amazingly demonic sounding voice, Naruto said "If you ever lay a hand on my teacher, I'LL KILL YOU!" for one second Mizuki showed fear then he laughed "you, a failure, beat me? I can kill you with one punch" at that, Naruto laughed "do your best, I'll return it a thousand times" with that he put his hands in the tora sign, "TAIJU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU" at that the entire forest filled with angry Naruto's, 'there has to be over a thousand of him' was all Iruka could think. Then with one mighty charge they all ran in and proceeded to beat Mizuki to within an inch of his life. The second they were done, they all dispelled "hehe, maybe I over did it a bit Iruka-sensei" Naruto said sheepishly with his arm behind his back and a grin on his face. "Naruto, for you to have learnt such a powerful jutsu in just 30 minutes is amazing." "Huh? Oh no I didn't learn that from the scroll, I already knew that one, and before you ask I'm not allowed to tell you who taught me it" at that, Iruka was just shocked "then why didn't you use it in the graduation test?" Naruto just looked at him dumbly "but Iruka-sensei, the test was to create a bunshin, not a Kage bunshin" with that Iruka just palmed his head, "Naruto, by that we meant any bunshin, we just expected the normal one cus that the one taught at the academy" with that, Naruto's face fell "so you mean I could have graduated?" Iruka just nodded immediately, Naruto just looked down at the ground in sorrow. Then an idea came to Iruka, "hay Naruto, close your eyes for a second." Closing his eyes Naruto waited and waited then "you can open them now" when he opened them Naruto could see Iruka holding his goggles in his hand, and he wasn't wearing his forehead protect, looking up Naruto realizes he's wearing Iruka's forehead protect, "congratulations Naruto, you Graduate" overwhelmed with joy Naruto tackles Iruka to the ground laughing.

* * *

**Authors note:** Whoa, 3200 words, that's a record for me, and I stayed up to 1:30 to do it. I will try to write chapters around this size in the future, cus they are just more fun. i was wondering what you guys thought about this team arangement

Ten seven: Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata

reason: sasuke and naruto are clearly ninjutsu speclists, both have the sharingan, which works best with ninjutsu, and Naruto has massive chakra reserves to back it up. so they have two ranged members and with Hinata they would have a close range person to keep the enemies from getting too close.

Ten eight: Kiba, Shino, Sakura

reason: Kiba and Shino are great trackers and Sakura, who at this point in time is more genjutsu then anything, would be great under Kurenai as she is also a genjutsu speiclist. Sakura can also use genjutsu to provide cover for her team.

team ten: same as normal, cus they just work so well.

That's all I have to say for now, ja ne.

Raeyl: Okay—good—I kinda think it was un needed to have this happen, but for all I know, you have a reason for it. Sorry for being a slow beta-next time'll be quicker.


	3. Team Assignments

**The next day**

* * *

In front of the Hokage stands Naruto, the demon brat, the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the legendary orange prankster and a Konoha Shinobi. The reason for this was the incident last night. The Hokage was questioning Naruto on what had happened on that night.

Sighing the old hokage begins "So Naruto. Why did you steal the forbidden scroll? I know you're smarter than such a pathetic lie. So why?"

Naruto stood there, with head down and his eyes bearing a hole into the poor floorboards. "I'm sorry." The Hokage just stared at him

"What?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I fell for it. It's just. It's just I was so upset over failing. I was so upset I wouldn't graduate with Sasuke. Then Mizuki-sensei came and offered me a way to be with Sasuke. I just couldn't think straight." Seeing that Naruto was getting close to a break down, the third decided to say something first.

"It's ok Naruto. We all make mistakes, especially when we are upset. Now you should go home and rest. Team assignments are tomorrow, so you'll have a big day." Hearing that Naruto's head shot up so fast the third thought it might snap off.

"Really? You mean you're not going to punish me? You're not going to take my headband away?" shaking his head he replied

"No Naruto, you earned that headband when you defeated Mizuki by yourself, in fact I'm putting that down as a B ranked mission, and before you ask-you're not getting paid for it, but I will seal records of the actual events of the mission." After jumping up and down in joy Naruto starts to head to the door when a small caped figure comes bursting in yelling,

"This time I'll get you old man." before tripping on his own cape and falling face down into the hard floor.

"What happened?" asked the young boy as he stood up, spotting Naruto he yells, "ITS YOUR FUALT!" Taken back by this Naruto replies

"WHAT?"

"YEAH ITS YOUR FAULT, YOU TRIPPED ME OVER!" this was starting to irritate Naruto

"NO YOU IDIOIT YOU TRIPPED OVER YOUR OWN CAPE ." yelled Naruto as he picked up the boy by his shirt and pulled his arm back about to deck him when a Jonin came bursting through the poor door.

"Honourable grandson, ah honourable grandson there you are." Realizing who is holding the thirds grandson he yells "Put the honourable grandson down you brat." seeing Naruto tense, the young boy smirked and yelled at him.

"Yeah, not brave enough to hit me now that you know the Hokage is my grandfather." All while poking his tongue out at Naruto.

"Well I was going to leave you alone as a favour to the old man, but since you're a brat…" and with that Naruto punched him square in the head. Then dropped him on the ground and proceeded to walk out "Later old man." said Naruto casually as he gave the Hokage a backhanded wave, while the Jonin came running to the aid of the young boy.

"Honourable grandson are you ok…wait where did he go?" yelled the poor Jonin as he realized the little boy had vanished.

"He's gone to chase after Naruto." The moment the Hokage finished that sentence the Jonin ran out the door yelling "Honourable grandson come back!" while thinking 'I have to protect him from the kyuubi brat'

* * *

**The street**

* * *

_Shuffle shuffle_ Naruto spins around after hearing this to see a box in the middle of the road. It has a pattern on it that is meant to make it look like some rocks. But it has perfect corners, and eye holes, and is in the middle of the road. Just shaking his head at the pathetic attempt at hiding Naruto crouches down next to the box and says "Come out of there, I know you're in there."

"Aww man that's why you're so cool boss and are going to train me" the box said right before it burst into a puff of smoke. Coughing could be heard coming from the smoke. As a small figure emerged. "Too much..._cough_...gun powder..._cough_..."

At the kids antics Naruto could only laugh until the words hit him. "Boss? Teach you?"

"Yeah boss, you're so cool, you have to know some cool moves that will make me Hokage in no time." Laughing a little Naruto looks down at kid and says

"Well then first- two things. First, what's your name?" "Konohamaru!"

"So they named you after the village eh?" looking down Konohamaru replied

"Yeah they did, by the way, what was the second thing?"

"Ah, meet me at training ground seven." and with that Naruto disappears in a puff of smoke and leafs.

"So cool, he's defiantly going to teach me that!" yells out an overexcited Konohamaru as he runs off to training ground seven.

* * *

**Training ground seven**

* * *

"Ok Konohamaru, I want you to try and summon up as much chakra as you can." Konohamaru nods swiftly as he puts his hands into the ram sign and begins to focus his chakra. After getting a sense for the amount of chakra Konohamaru has, Naruto decides what he's going to do.

"Ok, I'm only going to teach you one thing, as it's your teacher's job to actually teach you. Since you already have a pretty large amount of chakra for someone your age you are going to learn control." At that Konohamaru groans "While you are learning control it is also a really cool ninja trick that is very useful. You are going to climb trees." Konohamaru just stares at Naruto. Then stares some more. Then more staring. "Climb trees? I've known how to do that for years." Smirking Naruto smugly replies

"Yes, but can you climb trees without using your hands." Before Konohamaru can reply Naruto summons his chakra to his feet and begins climbing. Konohamaru stares in awe as Naruto walks right up the tree. "Now not only will this allow you to enhance your chakra control but imagine what you can do if you can walk up walls? Stick to the floor if there is a large wind caused by an enemy jutsu? The possibilities are endless. Now what you do is you summon your chakra to your feet, the reason we use your feet for this exercise is it's the hardest place on your body to summon chakra. Then you begin to walk, or if you're new try running. As a hint my sensei never gave me, but should have, if you don't put enough chakra into the soles of your feet you'll fall off while if you put too much you'll fly off." 'Or in my case destroy the tree and be sent catapulting into the next one, that was a painful lesson. . . '

Just as Konohamaru starts to run towards a tree a kunai embeds it's self into the ground "Use that to mark how high you get. When you can climb all the way to the top you will have mastered the exercise." grabbing the kunai he begins to climb, and gets an amazing meter off the ground before coming crashing back down. "Too little-try again." Naruto yells as Konohamaru gets up and tries again.

* * *

**Time skip 3 hours**

* * *

"_Pant_…nearly at the…_pant_… top of the tree…_pant_… can't stop now…_pant_" says Konohamaru as he runs up the tree one last time. He quickly begins to rise up the tree, but just as he reaches the top he runs out of chakra and comes crashing down to earth. Luckily for Konohamaru Naruto is there to catch him before he hits the ground.

"Great job Konohamaru you managed to learn it in just three hours. It took me two days, but then you do have less chakra and a better teacher then I did." Naruto says with a smile across his face. With that Naruto and Konohamaru sit down on a log and Naruto decides to ask him the question that has being plaguing him since he started teaching the kid. "So, why do you want to become Hokage? And why do you always attack the Hokage?" looking up at Naruto Konohamaru lowers his head and begins talking

"Well, as you know I was named after the village, but no one sees me as Konohamaru. Everyone just sees me as the 'honourable grandson' honourable grandson this honourable grandson that. No one sees the real me. Just the grandson of the hokage, so if I can defeat the hokage I would prove that I'm somebody, my own person. I want to be the hokage so people will start paying attention to ME, Konohamaru, not the 'honourable grandson' " While Konohamaru is ranting a certain tokubetsu Jonin is standing undetected in the trees behind them silently thinking

'I see, that explains it. He would never tell me why he always wanted to be Hokage and attacks his grandfather, and yet the demon brat has managed to get him to open up to him. Maybe he isn't the demon after all? Why would a demon teach someone when he could just gut them alive?' then Naruto's reply cemented Ebisu's new found belief that the boy was in fact not the Kyuubi reborn

"Well then I'll give you one last lesson. This is the most important thing you will ever learn." At this Konohamaru looks up at Naruto waiting impatiently for what has about to say "If you want to be the Hokage there are no shortcuts. No easy ways. The only way to become strong is to train every day until you reach your limit then keep training. That's what sets people apart. Anyone can train until they reach their limit but only special people can train past their limits. That's what allows them to expand them, but that is not the only thing you need to be strong. No you need to find someone precious to you. Someone you are willing to protect with your life. Only when you have people to protect can you truly become strong. Why do you think the Hokage is the strongest ninja in the village? Is it because of all the jutsu he knows? Because of all his training? No the answer is because he treats every single person in Konoha as his family, his precious people. That is why he is so strong, because he fights for the entire village." After Naruto finishes his lecture Konohamaru stands up and starts to walk away, then he turns around and says

"Thanks a lot boss. I think I understand now, and I have a new dream. I'm no longer going to the fifth Hokage, I'm going to become the sixth Hokage" looking at him strangely Naruto asks

"Why the sixth and not the fifth?" looking at him with a smirk on his face Konohamaru replies

"That's simple boss, 'cause you're going to be the fifth Hokage." With that Konohamaru turned back around and kept walking. Leaving a stunned Naruto and Ebisu in the clearing/trees respectively. As Naruto gets up and starts to walk away he says out load

"You should follow him, help him train. Can't have a weak sixth Hokage can we." with that Naruto disappears in a puff of smoke and leafs, leaving a stunned Ebisu at being detected by a mere genin.

* * *

**The next day: Konoha Academy.**

* * *

Twenty seven kids are inside one class room, most of them shouting to each other. With everyone talking, or at least thinking, about team assignments. Just then a tired and still slightly sore Iruka walks into the class and stands at the front. When everyone keeps talking he decides to make his presence felt with a combination of the gigantic head jutsu and his naturally loud voice

"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!"

With that sudden outburst everyone quickly flies to their seats and awaits the announcement of the team assignments. Instead he begins to babble on about some unimportant ninja stuff they don't want to know. Mean while a group of Jonin gathered in the Hokage's office begin their own discussions on team assignments. Kakashi, who was on time for once, speaks up first.

"Hokage-sama, If I may, I would like to request Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Hinata be the three genins that make up team seven." At this everyone turns to face him.

"Kakashi don't you think that team is a little under? You know we normally try to balance the teams as best as possible, but the one you are suggesting would consist of two of the academy's worst students and a Hyuga who has such issues with confidence that she is frightened at the slightest sound." Not willing to back down on his team Kakashi decides to push a little harder

"I know that Hokage-sama but I was aiming to create a heavy combat/assault team. Sasuke is perfect for this because of both his natural alignment with fire, which posse many high powered and area attacks, along with his very large for a genin chakra reserves and the Sharingan when he unlocks it. Then there's Hinata, a Hyuga, she has great potential. With proper training she could not only target the enemy and direct the attacks allowing the team to attack from a range they would normally not be able to, but she would also act as the perfect Taijutsu cover while the boys raining down medium to long ranged Ninjutsu she would make sure no one could get to them and take them down in close range. Finally there is Naruto; he would be a Ninjutsu monster. He is only a genin but he has a chakra capacity twice mine." which invoked gasps from the group at the idea of a mere genin having more chakra then the legendary copy-cat Nin "He mastered a Jonin level kinjutsu in a mere one hour. Which will prove insanely useful, not only would Naruto be able to train with shadow clones, but with a number that would allow him to train for years in just days. Also because each shadow clone has a share of his massive chakra he could use it for mass attacks. For example he could summon a hundred clones then have 50 uses Katon: Karyu Endan no jutsu and the other 50 use Futon: Daitoppa to enhance the power and speed of the first attack." 'And with his Sharingan eye he would also have massive potential as well'

While the third was nodding his head through all this he decided he couldn't let this drop that easily. "What about the other teams? Don't you think they would be disadvantaged by this?" Kakashi, while surprised that the Hokage appeared to be giving in so quickly, was also prepared for that question.

"Well sir that is simple really. We all know that only three teams will pass so to maximize the power of the teams that do pass I suggest that team eight should be: Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino. As Kurenai is a stealth/genjutsu specialist and that team would the perfect tracker/recon team. Kiba and Shino would provide great tracking ability's with Kiba also been well versed in Taijutsu and Shino able to drain the enemy's chakra. While Sakura, who is clearly a medic/genjutsu type so she would do great things with a genjutsu specialist as her teacher , would provide great genjutsu cover and if you could get her to, she would probably provide good medic support for the team as well." Nodding slowly the Hokage motioned for Kakashi to go on "Then there's team ten: the Ino-Shika-Cho combo, it has worked great in the past and will most likely continue to work great into the future."

After listening to all this, the Hokage put on a look of deep thought and began to think. 'Hmm he does make a good point, and it would be good for him to continue to teach both Naruto and Sasuke, plus Hinata seems to be attracted to little Naruto so she wouldn't mind. They would probably end up being one our most successful and powerful teams, perhaps more so then the saninn. Plus his ideas for the other two teams leave them pretty balanced as well, damn he must have spent a while thinking up all that. Oh well it will probably mean less paper work if I just give in.' "You provide a strong argument for your idea Kakashi, and I feel that it does deserve a shot. So the new teams will be, Team seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Hinata, Team Eight: Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino and Team Ten: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji. Now Kakashi since this is your idea go inform Iruka of the change in plans before he announces the teams, if he gets to one of the changed teams before you tell him then the teams will not change, understood?" nodding quickly Kakashi disappears in a poof to make sure he gets the team he so wants.

* * *

**1 minute later: Konoha Academy**

* * *

"Ok then team six will be…" Naruto and Sasuke didn't pay attention to the team as they knew that Kakashi would do his best to make sure they were on his team seven. "Alright then team seven will be," just as Iruka was about to announce the members of team seven Kakashi appears in a puff of smoke and leafs and quickly walks over to Iruka and informs him of the changes to the team lay out. After they are done whispering Iruka coughs to get the classes attention again as it had wandered in the short second he wasn't paying attention. "Alright then class, team seven will consist of: Uzumaki Naruto," at this Naruto and Sasuke stuck their heads up while Hinata sat in the corner with a blush on her face wondering if she would be with her Naruto-kun "Uchiha Sasuke," with that Naruto and Sasuke both smiled at each other in joy at been on the same team, looking forward to their times as genin, then realizing the last member had not been announced Naruto began silently mouthing 'not a fangirl' but poor Hinata who was spying only saw 'not a girl' and felt her spirit crushed at the idea her beloved Naruto-kun wouldn't want a girl on his team. But then Iruka's voice snapped her attention back onto reality "and Hyuga Hinata" the second he finished saying that Naruto was yelling in joy shouting

"HA, NOT A FANGIRL, WE DIDN'T GET A FANGIRL. THANK YOU KAMI" while a tomato red Hinata sat up with a look of joy on her face 'Yes, not only was I wrong about Naruto-kun not wanting a girl on his team, but he is happy I'm on his team, even if it's because I'm not a Sasuke fangirl' even Hinata shuddered at how the beings known as fangirls acted. Just as she did her hearing, along with the rest of the class's, was destroyed by the screeching of Sasuke's fan club over not a single one of them managing to get on his team. And yet Hinata just sat in her chair still unbelievably happy that she was on Naruto-kun's team.

* * *

**Author's note: **

Well that was a kind of dull chapter, and yet an important one. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Guyverzero: thanks for the comments

Sen Yamamoto: yes Naruto will have limits; he is going to be strong, but not overly, will still get his butt kicked by people stronger than him. Otherwise the story wouldn't just be Naruto would it? Expect Naruto to be stronger, and smarter, but that's what he would have been like if he had grown up with someone teaching him anyways. Also one of the differences between Naruto's and the Uchiha's Sharingan will be revealed soon, as both a strength and a weakness, so look forward to it.

Ndasuunye: thanks, I'm glad you thought I did a good job at it.

And I would like to thank Sealed-dragon for all his helpful reviews

Ja ne all.

Raeyl: Sorry so much for the wait--sickness after finishing annoying tests don't help toward doing anything useful. Next time will be faster 'cause I'll so it first than whatever else needs to be done. Love where the stories going!!


	4. Team meeting woes

**Authors note:** sorry for the REALLY late chapter, but due to beta issues i have being waiting for it to be beta'd due to the delay i thought i'd post up the chapter now for all of you, and get a beta'd version of 7/8 up when i find a new beta.

* * *

Konoha Academy:

Team seven, consisting of Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Hinata all sat in the class room, far too excited over who they had been teamed with to even notice what teams their friends got stuck with. Now we delve into the minds of these three young ninja to discover what they are really thinking.

Hinata: 'I'm on Naruto-kun's team. I'm on Naruto-kun's team. I'AM ON Naruto-KUN's team! Naruto-kun was excited to have me on his team, excited, about me. Wait, if I'm on Naruto-kun's team that means I'll have to be around him. I don't know if I can handle it. I don't want to be turning bright red every time he looks at me and fainting that would be bad, epically on missions. What am I going to do? ' all the mean while to the real world Hinata is glowing red, and going through a number of shades of red not known to man.

Naruto: 'Cool, I have Kakashi for a teacher, and Sasuke is on MY team. Oh and that Hinata girl is on my team to, hmm I wonder what she will be like. I know from the pale, almost…lavender? Eyes that she has that she has the Byakugan, so she must be from the Hyuga clan. What did Kakashi say about them? Eh I'll worry about it later. She looks pretty, but she's weird, shy and quite. I think she may be a nice girl. Eh again I'll worry about it later.

Sasuke: 'YES, NO FANGIRLS, but damn, I do have a girl on my team, um Hinata, I hope she doesn't mind me reading Icha Icha paradise (AN: what don't you think hanging around Kakashi for 4 years would have an effect on him?) around her. Meh if she does I'll point out Kakashi doing it, cus if I can't read it then he can't either. Oh and Naruto is on my team too, this will be fun. I wonder if he will tell her about the Sharingan.

"Ok that's all class, just wait here and your Jonin teacher will show up soon" with that Iruka heads out the door feeling sorry for Team seven, who with Kakashi as their teacher will have to wait forever. He doesn't know how much Kakashi likes this team.

* * *

Time skip 5 minutes

* * *

A Red eyed women walks into the classroom, about a foot past the door she says "Team Eight, I'm Yuhi Kurenai your Jonin teacher, please come with Me." and with just that brief sentence walks back out the door while her team hurries after her. Just as she walks back out the door a man with light brown skin and a cigarette in his mouth and says "team Ten, I am Sarutobi Asuma, your Jonin teacher, meet me at the Korean Barbeque" as he finishes he walks out the door just like Kurenai did. Naruto and Sasuke decide to head over to Hinata to talk while they wait for Kakashi.

"Hay Hinata" a carefree Naruto says as he sits down next to her. Turning her an even brighter red then before from when she was thinking about the team assignments.

'get a hold of yourself girl, you will be no help to Naruto-kun in the field if you faint at his presence, now just breath in and out, good and talk' even with her mental pep talk all Hinata can manage is to stutter out "h-he hello Na-Naruto-kun" before quickly stopping to keep herself from embarrassing herself too much.

"What do you say we all get to know each other, while me and Sasuke know each other pretty well from training together we don't know a thing about you, so let's introduce ourselves to each other, as Kakashi won't be here for at least three hours." At that Sasuke snorts, "yeah, he is the definition of late and lazy. Not once has he ever been on time to, well anything and then he comes up with these cheap excuses like 'I got lost on the path of life' how do you get lost on the path of life?" Hinata chuckles lightly at the normally quite Sasukes, outburst while Naruto falls to the floor laughing. Just as Naruto is recovering and stands a puff of smoke appears at the bottom of the room revelling Kakashi. The moment they laid eyes on him all Naruto and Sasuke could do was staring wide eyed with their jaws on the ground in shock. "Kakashi, your, your, on time, THE WORLD IS DOOMED" screamed a frightened Naruto, earning him a whack across the head by Sasuke. "Shut up Naruto" says Sasuke as he pulls out a kunai and throws it at Kakashi "it can't be Kakashi at all, it's clearly an imposter." Kakashi, while slightly shocked at his former secret students and his current real student's outburst, manages to catch the kunai and pocket it. "Come on Sasuke and Naruto, I can be on time." His reply is Naruto saying "yeah, for the new release of those pathetic Icha Icha books." Before breaking out in laughter earning a glare from Kakashi and Sasuke, while Kakashi just glared Sasuke put words behind his glare "what's wrong with Icha Icha?" demands Sasuke, angered that Naruto would dare insult his precious books. All Naruto can do at the glares and Sasukes comment is just laugh harder. While poor Hinata is left out on all this not knowing either Kakashi or whatever this Icha Icha is. So in a rare act of bravery she decides to voice her question.

"Ano…what is Icha Icha?" with that small statement all three males just stare at her. Feeling like she has done something wrong she starts to sink into her seat, before she can move more than an inch Naruto replies "these stupid perverted books written by some perverted hermit called Jeria or something" "ITS JIRIYA" yell Sasuke and Kakashi at the same time. All Hinata can do is let out a little chuckle. Kakashi deciding cut this short before it drags on any longer yells to his team. "Meet me on the room in 5 minutes" before they can even turnaround he is gone in his trademarked puff of smoke and leafs.

* * *

Roof top 4 minutes later:

* * *

"Ah good, your early, that's highly important for a ninja. If you're late on a mission you or your teammates could wind up dead" says Kakashi, who if you could see behind his mask would be smirking, to the three slightly panting genin in front of him. As not only did they have to sprint all the way up 5 flights of stairs (AN: no clue how many there really are but let's just make it 5) then search over the entire roof of the academy, before discovering that Kakashi was in fact on the roof of an adjacent building, so they had the choice of sprinting back down the stairs over to the other building then up all its stairs, or jumping across the rooftops to the other building. For their continued well being the genin decided to jump across the rooftop. Naruto, being the first to recover yells at the still smirking Kakashi "Your one to talk, you are ALWAYS late, normally at LEAST 2 HOURS!" Kakashi, while smiling under his mask, puts his hands over his heart and said in mock hurt "you wound me Naruto, to say such cruel untrue things about your teacher. I was mostly on time for our meeting today" Sasuke could have sworn that if he wasn't wearing a mask Kakashi would have poked his tong out at Naruto. "Moving on, let's all introduce each other, name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams you get the idea." Hinata feeling a little left out not knowing anything about her new teacher decides to speak up "ano, Ka-Kakashi-sensei c-could you g-go first?" a still very shy Hinata manages to slowly stutter out. 'A shy heiress eh?' "Ok then, my name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes and dislikes hm… are none of your business, hobbies? I have lots of hobbies, and I don't really have a dream." 'All I found out was his name' thought a slightly depressed Hinata that her idea didn't work. Luckily for her Naruto decided to fill her in. "as he told you his name is Kakashi, his likes are that perverted book of his. His dislikes are people, like me, who burn his books, which is very fun and enjoyable you should try it." With that Sasuke and Kakashi cringe at the idea of their other teammate also being a Icha Icha burner. "His hobbies include reading those books in public and collecting more of them. His dream is to collect every Icha Icha book and have the writer of that smut autograph them all."

Little Hinata gave a small chuckle at how obsessed her teacher seemed to be with those books, while yet again inventing new colours with her blush over Naruto talking to her. All the while Kakashi is giving a little pout over Naruto revelling too much about him. Deciding to get a tiny bit of payback Kakashi says "Ok then Naruto since you felt like telling everyone about me, you go next" at that Naruto just looks back at Kakashi and cheerfully begins "ok, My names Uzumaki Naruto, My likes are ramen, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke and Hinata-chan" at both being mentioned in his likes and that suffix Hinata turns (if it's possible) redder "my dislikes are the three minutes that it takes for instant ramen to cook and people who judge others without first getting to know them or for things out of their control. My hobbies are eating different types of ramen and training. My dream is to eat every type of ramen, and become the greatest hokage ever!" with Naruto yelling out the last part. 'Just as I thought.' Was all Kakashi had to say, well think. Sasuke on the other hand was thinking a lot more 'stupid Naruto, my ears are STILL RINGING, did he have to be so loud, all of us, well expect Hinata, all ready knew all of this. Eh well, it is Naruto' while Hinata was still stuck in a loop of 'he likes me, he likes me, he likes me' over and over and over did I mention and over? "Well then, Sasuke your up" "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I like Icha Icha, Naruto-baka," at that yell of Sasuke-teme could be heard ",Kakashi-sensei. I dislike my brother, and people who dare speak ill of, let alone destroy, Icha Icha books. My dream is to restore my clan, and to kill my brother so he can never hurt anyone else." 'That's pretty good for someone who went through what he did, luckily for us all Naruto was there for him. '

"ok onto the shy one, you're up" Hinata looks up, despite her face STILL being covered with the world record for a blush from Naruto's little speech, and she tries to speak, but ends up stuttering badly. "m-my n-name is Hyuga hi-Hinata, I like…." As she quickly glances at Naruto, blushes even MORE and continues "…my little sister, I dislike people who look down on me and think I'm weak." She manages without stuttering but her voice was getting quieter and quieter. "m-my ho-hobby is fl-flower pressing and my dream is…"she glances at Naruto again, and blushes even more again. Then quickly says "to be-become a go-good he-head for my clan and to fix the problems between the branch and main houses." While managed to not shutter for the last part. Both Sasuke and Kakashi looks at Hinata, then Naruto and think at the same time 'she is madly in love with him, and he is still too thick to notice it. She'll probably have to hit him over the head with a sledge hammer to get him to realize. Even then I'm not sure.' With Kakashi continuing on 'even 7 years training with me and he still somehow turned out to be just as slow as his father. Maybe it's genetic? It took Kushina slamming him into a wall and kissing him for 2 minutes before Minato realized she love him. That is after 2 years of everyone dropping hints. I think I may have to help them along' then for reasons unknown to the three poor genins Kakashi starts laughing manically. After a few minutes when he has recovered Kakashi decides it time to tell them about the test, even though he knows they will pass. "Ok listen up, tomorrow is our first mission together." Naruto, while being slow has great memory "but Kakashi-sensei, you said that all teams get tested before they get any missions" with that Kakashi face-plants as he staggers back up "yes…that's what the mission is. Survival training. Meet at training ground seven at seven. Oh and don't eat breakfast, or you'll puke." With that Kakashi vanishes in a puff of smoke. Sasuke and Naruto look at each other. Nod, then turn to Hinata "eat a medium sized breakfast, and meet at 9 not seven." And with that Sasuke disappears in a puff of smoke and leafs while Naruto stays behind. "Hinata-chan would you like me to take you home?" not trusting her mouth to speak Hinata just nods her head. Naruto then grabs her around the waist and says "hang on" and they both disappear in a puff of smoke before reappearing in front of the gates of the Hyuga manor. "Here we are. Hay Hinata-chan, after we pass Kakashi's test tomorrow want me to teach you how to do that?" still not trusting her mouth Hinata just nods. "Ok then after the test stay behind and I'll work on it with you." Then Naruto disappears in puff of smoke.

* * *

Training Grounds: 5 minutes later

* * *

"kage Bunshin No Jutsu" with that 100 Naruto clones appear. "Ok, ten of you go over there and spread yourselves out; I'm going to see if I can use bunshin Daibakuha with Normal shadow clones. Ten more of you split your selves up and spread your selves evenly, I'm going to try and learn the Swamp of the underworld jutsu, on you. I'll practise using it for one target try submerging you at various levels. Then I'll try a more powerful version of it on the rest of you clones to see if I can take you all out in a single hit." And with that Naruto gets to work training to surprise Kakashi with the new attacks he knows.

Elsewhere on the training grounds: same time.

"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu" just then a tree gets completely destroyed from the powerful fire attack. "good, that will defiantly surprise Kakashi, hopefully it won't kill him, but oh well" Sasuke flashes threw a large set of hand seals then lowers his left hand while griping it with his right. A small ball of barley visible chakra appears in his hand. Sasuke pulls his arm back then thrusts it forwards yelling "Raiton: Raibakuhatsu" the second he is done the ball lightning shoots out of his hand straight towards the tree. The second it hits the tree it explodes destroying a good portion of the tree. "He won't be expecting me to be able to do that yet."

Hyuga Manor: same time

"Hinata, come with me to the Dojo, you will be sparing against your sister." Hiashi said to his daughter before turning and walking towards the dojo. With Hinata quickly saying "Hai o-tou-sama" before quickly following behind him. Once they get there Hinata sees that Hanabi is already waiting. They both slide into the Hyuga Juken stance and their father says "begin" with that they are off. Hanabi charging in with a powerful Juken strike to Hinata's chest, but Hinata manages to block it with a Juken strike back. While this is slightly surprising for her weak sister Hanabi just ignores it and continues to attack Hinata. Just before she can hit Hinata on the arm sealing the Tenketsu in her right arm to stop her from attacking or defending with it Hinata has a flash back

* * *

Flash back no Jutsu:

"_Here we are. Hay Hinata, after we pass Kakashi's test tomorrow want me to teach you how to do that?"_

Flash back no Jutsu KAI

* * *

Remembering this Hinata realizes that if Hanabi beats her today she will be too weak tomorrow, with her Tenketsu only partly re-opened. If there is one thing that can motivate Hinata to actually attack her little sister is the fear of disappointing Naruto. With that she is off. Quickly cancelling out Hanabi's attack with a Juken strike to her arm at a speed Hinata didn't even realize she possessed. Hanabi after being blocked retreats up a bit and decides her sister might put up a fight for once. So it's time to break her spirit. "Hay Hinata seems you're not as much of a weakling as I thought. Maybe if you keep training by the time you're put in the branch family you'll be better than that loser you like." Now Hanabi expected this to break her sister. But it had the opposite effect. It made her angry, so now Hanabi is about to learn a very important lesson. You don't want an angry Hinata after you. "Never speak about Naruto like that again." Says Hinata in a low and surprisingly angry voice. Smugly Hanabi replies "what you going to do about it?" what Hinata has to say in response is shocking to all "you are in the range of my divination. Jukenpo: Hakke Rokujūyon Shō" the second those words are out of her mouth Hinata is off. "Two palms, four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms, thirty two palms, sixty four palms." With the final strike Hanabi is sent flying. With the clan medics rushing in to see if she is ok.

Hiashi is shocked 'how can Hinata do that? She could never use the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō before so what changed? Maybe it is the boy she likes. I will have to investigate, but first.' "Congratulations Hinata for your first victory over your little sister, you are dismissed." Said Hiashi in his normal tone so as to hide his surprise, but all Hinata needed to hear was the congratulations to send her to cloud nine. Not only had she defeated her little sister but she could now use the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō. Hinata was so excited 'maybe I can use that tomorrow during the test I could impress Naruto-kun' and with that she ran off to her room to dream.

* * *

Authors note:

Raiton: Raibakuhatsu: or lightning blast, it looks a lot like the Chidori at the start. But instead of having lightly flying everywhere it's condensed in a small ball. Then the user performs a thrust just like with the Chidori, but at a distance. This sends the ball flying in a straight line at its target. When the ball hits something it creates a large explosion that also fries everything inside the blast radius with high powered lightning. It's a High C/low B rank Jutsu, for a couple reasons, it uses half the chakra of the Chidori (so still quite chakra intensive) from converting raw chakra to lightning instead of using lightning nature chakra, as Sasuke doesn't know that yet, can only fly in a straight line at a medium speed, so it is pretty easy to dodge for a ninja of any skill.

As for Hinata using the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō well, I'm sure that at one point in time her father would have tried to teacher her it. And with her stalking Naruto, she would have seen how hard he trains, even if she would never be able to find him with Kakashi, so she would train harder to try and impress him, and all she needed was the confidence and motivation to use it. Which little Hanabi provided. Insulting someone a person loves is very bad idea for your health.

With Naruto and Hinata: Naruto does that to everyone, he either makes them um names, case in point fuzzy brows, or adds kun/chan to the their name. as of right now Naruto does not consider Hinata anything more than a friend, and will slowly (I'm talking a VERY long time) before he realizes Hinata's feelings for him, and realizes that during this time he has started to grow closer to her.

Next time on AFE: The bell test: pass or fail

call015 : in my opinon that generally results in a very over-powered naruto. which is only good for certain plots, this story is not one of those plots.


	5. The Bell test

**Training Ground Seven: The day of the bell test – 8:50:**

* * *

A nervous Hinata walks towards the tree at the centre of the ground wear her and the rest of team seven is to me. 'It's 9, I'm two hours late for the test and I didn't listen to Kakashi-sensei on eating briefcase. I hope Naruto-kun was right, I don't want to get in trouble' thought Hinata as she neared the tree. When she can finally see the tree she finds Naruto and Sasuke sitting under it waiting. The second Naruto sees Hinata he jumps up and yells "hay Hinata-chan, you got here just time, ero-sensei should be here anytime now!" so loudly that it could be heard across the entire training ground.

Looking confused Hinata asks Naruto "ero-sensei?" Naruto laughs a bit before replying "you know, Kakashi-sensei, we'll he's really perverted reading those books of his so he is ero-sensei, just like the Sasuke here is ero-niisan" at that Sasuke gives a snort before saying "just because you don't like Icha Icha doesn't make everyone who reads them a pervert." Naruto just stares at Sasuke "yes it does. You read perverted books, therefore you are a pervert." All the while innocent little Hinata is just standing there wondering what is actually in a perverted book. Just at that moment Kakashi decides to arrive

"Yo, sorry I'm…" before Kakashi could finish he was cut off by Naruto.

"No you're not, and don't give us some stupid excuse, like having save some drowning fish." Kakashi looked a bit down at that, because that was the exact reason he was about to give.

"Maa, anyways it's time for your test" was Kakashi's reply as he pulled out two bells and an alarm clock from his pouch. "to pass you have to get one of these bells, if you don't you'll get tied down to that post and have to watch while the rest of us eat launch, oh and you'll be sent back to the academy"

'I'm glad I decided to listen to Naruto-kun, otherwise I'd be staving right now.' thought a grateful Hinata, then she realized that there were only two bells "but Kakashi-sensei, there's only two bells"

Smiling at this Kakashi replies "I guess that means that one of you is going to fail then, or all of you could fail'

* * *

**With Hinata**

* * *

This sent Hinata in a cycle of worry 'if only two of us are going to make it onto the team does that mean I'll be alone with Naruto-kun? No, I'm sure him and Sasuke will get the bells, they seem real close. I'll miss out on my chance to be with Naruto-kun, I'll be stuck in the academy another year, father will be disappointed in me. No I won't fail; I'll be with Naruto-kun no matter what'

All Sasuke and Naruto did was shoot each other a look, having heard from Kakashi exactly what this test is about, when he told them how his sensei tested him. They sent unspoken messages to each other 'I'm first Sasuke' was all Naruto had to say while Sasuke replies 'fine, not like he'll be tired when it's my go' at that Naruto scowled a little.

Deciding to step in before his students had any more time to think Kakashi said "you have until noon. Begin!" With that the three ninja disappeared into the trees, expect Naruto. He just stood there. Staring at Kakashi. Staring. Staring. Starting to get a little unnerved by the normally hyper blonde's unblinking stare Kakashi decides now would be a good time to read. Just when his hand grabs his copy of Icha Icha paradise is when Naruto makes his move.

Shuriken came flying at Kakashi from all directions. 'Damn there must be at least 20 clones hidden, when did Naruto summon them?' thought Kakashi as he leapt high into the air to avoid the shuriken. A stupid mistake, one that Kakashi realized when he was in the air. The reason he realized this, was because of the two clones appearing beside him, but instead of attacking him like Kakashi had expected the clones grabbed onto him. When Kakashi saw the smile on their faces he knew he was in trouble. "Bye Ero-sensei" said the two clones cheerfully as they exploded in a great fireball that filled the sky.

Hidden in the trees Hinata gasped 'Naruto-kun wouldn't kill Kakashi-sensei would he?' she was forced out of these thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning around she saw the last person she expected. "Kakashi-sensei!" Exclaimed Hinata and she jumped back in fear. Not because she was scared, but because of his appearance. Kakashi's hair was frayed, his vest ripped, his shirt and pants were scorched. 'Where did Naruto learn that technique? Was it from the forbidden scroll? If it wasn't for Naruto's warning I wouldn't have been able to Kawarimi out of there.' Turning his attention back to Hinata he decided that he needed time to rest so he put his hands into a seal and said but two words. "Night Hinata" with that Hinata collapsed to the ground as the sleep genjutsu overtook her. 'That should hold for an hour and maybe buy me some time to recover.' With that Kakashi dashed off into the trees to find a nice place to rest, and maybe read some Icha Icha.

* * *

**With Naruto**

* * *

"DAMN!" a very frustrated blond ninja yelled at the top of his voice. "This was my chance to show Kakashi-sensei just how strong I am, and I screw it up." Naruto takes a few deep breaths before he continues his external monologue "well I guess I better find Hinata and fill her in on the plan" Naruto tried to find Hinata by searching for her chakra signature he couldn't detect her, 'she must either be far away or unconscious, probably Kakashi sensei.' After seeing that his first plan wasn't working Naruto decided to try plan B. as with most plan Bs, it wasn't as good as plan A, for Naruto's plan B involved creating a sphere of chakra, then expand it outwards until he felt Hinata enter that sphere. This would be the perfect way of detecting someone expect for two problems. First because it is a giant bubble of chakra, it's REALLY hard to miss. The second is that because Naruto has to be the epicentre of the sphere, it lights him up light a Christmas tree. Luckily for Naruto he didn't have to stretch his chakra out too far, for all of 200m away in a tree at the edge of the clearing he could feel Hinata's presence.

Naruto summons three Kage bunshin, one to watch Sasuke so he knows when to strike, one to follow Kakashi-sensei around, and the other, well, despite the fact that Naruto had in fact had breakfast he was hungry, so he sent it off to get ramen. As Naruto approached Hinata he noticed that her entire face was flushed red, worried that she was sick or something Naruto runs over to put his hand on her head, just before Naruto's hand can contact with her forehead he stops. For Naruto can hear Hinata talking. 'Oh Naruto-kun, your such a dirty boy.' Now, if it wasn't for his training with Kakashi, Naruto might have interpreted that in the literal sense, that he was physically dirty, but after growing up with Kakashi, or as Naruto calls him ero-sensei, Naruto learnt the ways of the world pretty quickly. Unfortunately this wouldn't be a good thing for the young blond, as right now his brain wasn't capable of processing the idea that a girl, especially a girl like Hinata, a girl from a rich and powerful clan, could like him, the demon of Konoha. So taking a page out of Hinata's book Naruto fainted. Right on top of Hinata. The impact and sudden addition of weight to Hinata roused her from her genjutsu induced dream. Only to see Naruto lying on top of her. All the poor shy Hyuga could do was let out a little 'eek' before fainting just like the blond on top of her had done moments before.

* * *

**With Sasuke**

* * *

A loud boom was heard throughout the training grounds, causing the young Uchiha to smirk. 'Seems like Naruto has had his fun my turn' so outset Sasuke to find his 'favourite' teacher and 'repay' him for his 'kind' and 'enjoyable' 'training' sessions.

When Sasuke sees Kakashi coming out of the trees he begins his attack

"Katon:Housenka no Jutsu" yelled out Sasuke as he peppered Kakashi with a cloud of small fireballs, all filled with various weapons, from kunai, to shuriken, to explosive notes.

As the burnt Kakashi sees the fireballs flying towards him, he starts to prepare a water jutsu to put them out. Before seeing Sasukes smile, Kakashi's eyes widen when he remembers that Sasuke loves to fill his fireballs with objects of death. Quickly pulling off a substitution jutsu, with a conveniently placed log Kakashi watched as the area he was standing only a second or two ago goes up in flames as a giant fireball consumes it. When the smoke clears you can clearly see the weapons littering the ground. 'Damn, that could have got me, stupid Naru and his exploding clones, this really hurts'

When Kakashi's gaze returned to the spot Sasuke was standing he noticed something was very very wrong. Sasuke was gone, there was nothing there. Just as Kakashi bent down to jump away a hand sprung up from the ground and grabbed him by the ankle pulling him in. while at the same time Sasuke jumped out of the ground.

"Gotcha Kakashi-sensei, time to meet my latest jutsu" as Sasuke lowered his hand Kakashi stared in horror as Sasuke charged up what looked like his Chidori.

'No it can't be, he has never seen me use that jutsu, I've never even told him about that jutsu. It's not possible' was all Kakashi could think as Sasuke raised his arm. Struggling as hard as he could Kakashi managed to force his out of the ground and into the air where he thought he was safe. He was wrong.

Sasuke drew his arm back, and carefully aimed it at Kakashi, as Kakashi wondered what he was up to Sasuke launched his arm forwards, once his arm was fully extended he yelled out "Raiton: Raibakuhatsu no jutsu" as the ball of lightning flew outwards towards Kakashi

"Oh shit" was all Kakashi could say as he rose his arm and formed the Chidori just in time to cancel out Sasukes attack. Deciding to end it now Kakashi quickly pulled a substitution with a rock behind Sasuke and before he could react gave Sasuke a chop to the neck putting him down for a while.

"Well, this is turning out to be harder than expected, I wonder how much extra training my students have been doing?" he said to no one in particular. With the Kakashi vanishes with a Shunshin back to the memorial stone to recover a bit.

* * *

**With Naruto and Hinata**

* * *

As Naruto wakes up he slowly opens his eyes, to see Hinata, more specifically Hinata's face, a mere inch from him. At the same time Hinata was also slowly opening her eyes to see Naruto in the same situation.

Once they realized the position they were in they quickly jumped apart facing away from each other while blushing red. Naruto remembering why he went to find Hinata in the first place said "Hey Hinata, we can talk about what just happened after the test." Hinata turned around while quickly nodding and doing her best to will her blush away. "The reason I came to see you was that I know the true meaning of the test, we have to work together, with Sasuke to get the bells. It doesn't matter if we actually get them or not as long as we display teamwork we pass." Hinata smiled at this,

'That means that no matter what, if we pass I get to stay on the same team as Naruto-kun'

"o ok th then l lets g go" stuttered Hinata while mentally she berated herself 'stupid I'm so stupid, I can't even say one normal sentence in front of Naruto-kun, if this keeps up he might think there's something wrong with me'

"Ok lets go get ero-Sasuke"

With that Naruto jumped up into the trees heading for where he heard the explosions, with Hinata close behind.

As they Naruto was jumping through the trees he saw something in the distance "Hinata" he called out, to the distracted Hyuga behind him, "use your Byakugan to see if that's Sasuke up ahead"

Giving a meek nod which Naruto didn't see Hinata softly went through some hand seals and quietly said "Byakugan" as her veins bulged she focused ahead and saw that it was in fact Sasuke, a very angry looking Sasuke. Hinata bravely made this know "na Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san is up ahead, b but he looks angry."

Even though Hinata couldn't see it Naruto smiled "thanks Hinata, and great job, you nearly managed to not stutter that time." Hinata blushed at Naruto's complements.

"Hey Sasuke" the hyper-active ninja yelled out as they exited the trees and leapt down into the clearing where a fuming Uchiha dwelled.

Completely ignoring Naruto, Sasuke kept muttering to himself "after all that one hit, he beat me in one hit, he wasn't even serious about it. One hit, I don't believe it. He was half dead and he beat me in one hit"

Sasuke's brooding was rudely interrupted by Naruto yelled "ERO-Sasuke, WAKE UP"

"Shut up Naruto no baka" was Sasukes grumpy reply

"a ano, Naruto-kun, wh what about the plan" the meek Hyuga said, Naruto and Sasuke turned and stared at her, they had both forgotten she was even there.

Remembering why he was there to begin with Naruto began "oh right. Sasuke, it's time for team work, we have both had our shots" at this Sasuke nodded "so what's the plan?"

Naruto sat down and thought for a moment before inspiration struck "ok, I'll attack Kakashi-sensei with a group of shadow clones, Hinata you will henge into me and go with the group, while they distract him you'll use Jyuken on Kakashi-sensei's legs so he can't move, try and get his arms as well if you can. Then get out of the way while Sasuke uses his Katon:Housenka no Jutsu to trap Kakashi-sensei in the one area, as well as prepare for covering fire. I'll then use my new jutsu to trap Kakashi-sensei and grab the bells. K?"

Both Hinata and Sasuke nodded in agreement and the trio jump off into the trees.

* * *

**At the Memorial Stone with Kakashi**

* * *

'hmm, Naruto has exploding clones, Sasuke a new jutsu that looks frighteningly like MY Chidori, but ranged and I didn't find anything out about Hinata, this is not going well. I knew I shouldn't have based my expectation of Naruto and Sasuke on the training we have been doing, it's just like that to keep training later and not tell me about it.' Thought Kakashi as he finished treating the last of his burn wounds, when he looked at his watch (AN: they have portable alarm clocks, they can have watches) and saw it read 11:45, 'hmm, not much time left for them, I was hoping they would pass of we…' his last thought got cut off as Kakashi saw a sea of Naruto clones come charging at him. 'Naruto I thought I taught you better' was all Kakashi thought before he began sweeping through the hoards of clones, one down, two, three, five, ten, the clones vanished in puffs of smoke faster than you could count. Using the smoke cloud as cover Hinata snuck up behind Kakashi and began who attack. In ten seconds it was over. All the clones were gone, the telltale smoke they leave behind gone, Hinata gone, and Kakashi unable to feel his legs or his left arm. 'This is bad' thought Kakashi, and then it got worse

A cry of "Katon:Housenka no Jutsu" was heard throughout the clearing, as hundreds of fireballs flew towards Kakashi, luckily for him none of them looked like they would hit, this raised a very important question, 'I know Sasuke can aim a LOT better than that, what's he planning?' this question was answered when the ground beneath Kakashi gave way and he found himself submerged just below wast level in a swamp, a very dark swamp, 'Yomi Numa? That's a forbidden technique due to the chakra usage, Naruto' thought Kakashi as he saw an orange blur fly past him.

seconds later and Sasuke appeared in front of the submerged Kakashi, with Naruto a second behind them holding the bells "we pass right Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto in a sickly sweet voice, Kakashi dimly nodded, at the idea of being beat by genin, two of which he should know better than they knew themselves yet didn't. Once Naruto released Kakashi from the swamp did he see that behind him there were two clones. Deciding to ask what was on his mind "Naruto, what would you have done if I hadn't said you passed?"

Naruto smiled at him and said "oh that's simple ero-sensei; I would have retreated with Hinata and Sasuke, then detonated the clones behind you. If we defeated our Jonin sensei in battle we are pretty much guaranteed to pass aren't we?"

Kakashi just stared at Naruto, "um…ok…well let's go discuss what we are going to do now that we are a team. Oh and it's important to share your secrets with your teammates, teammates are family, if they don't know what you can do they or even yourself may die because of it." Kakashi said while directly that last part mostly towards Naruto and Sasuke, partially because it was true, but also partially because he wanted to find out how much more they were hiding from him.

After sitting down in silence from a few minutes Naruto decided to break it. "Well I guess I'll go first." He took in a deep breath before beginning "I guess I'll do this in a rundown of my skills. Taijutsu: well I don't really have a real Taijutsu style, kinda like Kakashi-sensei, I mostly make it up as I go and incorporate parts of other Taijutsu styles in, kinda like how I borrowed parts of Sasukes interceptor fist style. Not my strength, but not my weakness. Genjutsu: …um…um…well I really suck at genjutsu. I can't dispel genjutsu normally because of a problem I have that prevents me from being able to stop my chakra. I do have a way for getting out of genjutsu, which I will explain later. Ninjutsu: my true strength, while my chakra control is barley average my chakra levels are massive. That's what allows me to use my favourite jutsu, the Kage bunshin as much as I do. All the jutsu I know are low control high chakra use. All of them being wide area attacks or kinjutsu. Oh and I was in the library recently, and I found this cool book by the fourth hokage called 'sealing 101' it had cool stuff like how to make your own exploding tags, or storage scrolls. I was really good at that, so maybe I'm good at sealing to."

At the mention of sealing Kakashi's eyes widen, 'Naruto, you might be the second coming of the fourth, no with the Sharingan and the kyuubi you could be more than that, you could be unstoppable'

Naruto gave Sasuke a look that silently said 'I'll tell her about it after we are all done' so Sasuke decided to go next "well I guess I'm up then." Sasuke, like Naruto before him, took in a deep breath and began "well I think I'll do a break down like Naruto, Taijutsu: I'm reasonably good at the Uchiha clan's interceptor fist style. I have managed to master the first three of 6 scrolls on it and I have just started on the fourth. Genjutsu: I haven't learnt any genjutsu yet, as most of the Uchiha clan genjutsu require the Sharingan, which I haven't activated yet. Ninjutsu: I have a bunch of Ninjutsu, mostly fire typed, but some lightning as well. I have even created my own jutsu, it's calledRaiton: Raibakuhatsu, I used it on Kakashi in the test, but he used some weird lightning thing that looked kinda like mine but he held it in his hand, while I shoot mine at my opponent. Well that's pretty much it"

After hearing this Hinata was starting to look more and more down, 'both Naruto-kun and Sasuke-san know so much, they are so strong, and Naruto-kun even managed to really hurt Kakashi-sensei in the test. Yet all I know is Jyuken, and even then I'm not very good at it.' Hinata's internal monologue was irrupted when she realized that it was her term

"Ano…well I can't really break my skills up like Naruto-kun and Sasuke-san, as the only thing I can do is the three basic academy jutsu, and Jyuken. With Jyuken I can do most the kata, and I managed to perform the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō, yesterday, but I don't know if that was just luck or not. Ano, I can only activate my Byakugan by using hand seals." Hinata managed to say without stuttering, although it was done very softly and she kept pushing her fingers together.

Naruto, seeing how upset Hinata seemed said "don't worry Hinata there's a reason me and Sasuke are so strong," when Hinata looked up at him Naruto continued "you see I have been training with ero-sensei here since I was five, and after the Uchiha massacre back when w were seven Sasuke joined us as well. So we have being training together, with ero-sensei, probably the strongest Jonin in the village, for a long time. There is also another reason." When Hinata looking at him puzzled Naruto closed his eyes. When they opened instead of the sparkling cerulean blue there was the blood red eyes of the Sharingan, with three tomoes in them. All Hinata could do was gasp "I don't know why I have the Sharingan, Kakashi-sensei said that it first appeared when I was born. Him and the third both think it might have appeared because of me seeing my parents killed by the kyuubi, and the fact I was nearly also killed. Since they don't know who my parents are I wouldn't be accepted into the Uchiha clan without proof, and as I couldn't summon the Sharingan because I was a baby I ended up growing up alone, until ero-sensei started training me." Naruto said in a very serious manner as shown by the fact he referred to Kakashi as Kakashi-sensei not ero-sensei, and the hokage as the third.

Kakashi deciding to step in said "well we could do d-rank missions for a while, but how about we just train for the next couple weeks then I start you on C-ranked missions?" at this both Naruto and Sasuke yelled in acceptance, due to hearing of the horrors of d-ranks, while Hinata just meekly went along with Naruto.

* * *

Authors notes:

Well that was fun, though the fight scenes didn't turn out quite like I imagined. To those of you wondering about Naruto and Sasukes training I won't go into specifics but:

Naruto: first thing Kakashi did was teach him some Taijutsu, along with build up his strength and speed. Then LOTS of chakra control. Training to use the Sharingan, lots of time wasted trying to learn to dispel genjutsu and finally Ninjutsu. Thanks to his training Naruto is now selectively smarter. It's kinda like he is two people. In combat he is smarter, calmer, but in normal life he is nearly as dense as normal.

Sasuke: Taijutsu training, chakra control, chakra building, attempts to get him to activate his Sharingan, genjutsu dispelling lesions, stamina building, speed training, Ninjutsu training, and just plain boding to help me get over the massacre and grow in the sane direction.

As for those of you wondering why Kakashi is acting like such a good teacher now. Well my reasoning is that in cannon he has never taught before. Ever. All his genin teams have failed, now while Kurenai could ask for help since she is a newbie, Kakashi is a veteran and well respected Jonin, his pride would prevent him from asking for assistance in how to train them. But since has being training Naruto and Sasuke for 7 and 5 years respectively he is a lot better a teacher now.

Sorry about the false alert, accidentally posted the wrong chapter the first time, this is the right one


	6. The first lesson

**Training Ground Seven: The day of the bell test - 12:00**

* * *

"Well then, your all dismissed, report here for training tomorrow morning at 6, ja na" said Kakashi as he vanished leaving behind the classical cloud of smoke and leaves.

Sasuke left with merely saying, "I'm going home to train, Cya Naruto, Hyuga-san."

Just as Hinata was about to stumble out a farewell to her dear Naruto-kun, he said something first. "Hay Hinata I promised to teach you the Konoha Shunshin today right?"

Hinata blushed bright red as she remembered Naruto's promise from the day before when he took her home, then she blushed more at remembering that he took her home. Followed by mentally cursing her forgetfulness and nearly missing out on a chance to be with Naruto 'how could I forget, I even used the Hakke Rokujūyon Sho on Hanabi-chan, just so I could have this time with Naruto-kun'

Naruto, noticing that Hinata is practically glowing red and being as dense as he is in the ways of life Naruto asked "hay Hinata are you ok? You're not sick or something?" as he reached out to Hinata and put his hand on her head, when he felt how hot she was he mistook it for illness and said "Hinata your pretty hot…" that was all Hinata heard before she fainted, if she had stayed awake for the next couple seconds she would have heard the ending of what Naruto was saying, and found it was something entirely different to what she was thinking. "…you must be si…" Naruto stopped when Hinata started falling; quickly he swooped in and grabbed her just before she hit the ground. Noticing that she was starting to get less red Naruto placed Hinata over at the base of the nearest tree and decided to train until she woke up.

* * *

**Training Ground seven: ten minutes later**

* * *

A groggy Hinata slowly opened her eyelids to revel her pale lavender eyes to the world. What she saw with those eyes was amazing. Beyond her wildest dreams. Thousands of Naruto's standing in front of her. All shirtless. All covered in sweat. All training harder then she had seen anyone train, and she had see her cousin Neji's team mate lee-san train. Unable to take all of this in Hinata just glowed bright red once more and fainted with a smile on her face. That would be something she would remember for the rest of her life. Well at least until later in her life when more graphic things involving her Naruto-kun filled her memories instead.

* * *

**Training Ground seven: another ten minutes later**

* * *

This time when Hinata slowly rose from the ground she saw something more shocking then before. There was a visible sphere of chakra surrounding Naruto. A sphere that constantly seemed to be changing, growing, shrinking, spinning in different directions. Activating her Byakugan Hinata gasped in amazement at just how complex the sphere was. She saw that Naruto was in the fact controlling this sphere, an incredible feat. Hearing Hinata gasp Naruto let go of the sphere, sending a chakra pulse out that would have reached the village, if training ground seven wasn't the furthest training ground from the village (AN: I don't think that it really is but in my fic it is). When the sphere was completely dissipated Naruto opened his eyes, when he saw Hinata he yelled out "hay Hinata" seeing her just staring at him in shock Naruto asked "what's wrong Hinata?"

Being jarring from her shock by Naruto's question Hinata replied with "what was that you were doing Naruto-kun?"

When Naruto started laughing Hinata thought she had said something wrong, then he began his explanation; "oh the chakra sphere, it's something Kakashi-sensei thought up, you see I have too much chakra. In the I have more than twice as much chakra as Kakashi-sensei." Naruto was interrupted by Hinata's gasp. When it appeared she had got over the shock of that little tad bit of information Naruto continued "but as a result my chakra coils are stressed to the max. my chakra levels have grown faster than my coils could keep up, heck if it wasn't for my training with Kakashi-sensei I doubt I'd be able to perform any jutsu expect for the Kage bunshin without screwing up." letting out another gasp, Hinata then started to say how no matter what Naruto wouldn't let something stop him, until Naruto cut her off "there is a reason for that though, the strain of having that much chakra in my coils makes it harder to release small amounts of chakra, hence my failure at creating bunshin or performing genjutsu, as they both require small amounts of chakra that is highly controlled, due to the mass pressure in my system the moment I start to release even the tiniest bit of chakra it explodes out like an exploding geyser. That is also the reason I am so good at medium and high level Ninjutsu. If you ask most teachers they will tell you that high level Ninjutsu requires high level chakra control. While that is true for most people it is not for me. Because the reason they require high level chakra control is that if you don't control your chakra when performing the jutsu you could wind up not using enough, the most common case, or having all your chakra drained. Due to my disability nether of those problems is an issue."

Taking in a very deep breath Naruto continued his story to the entranced Hinata "as for medium level Ninjutsu, they don't require much control, or chakra, but thanks to the fact I end up over charging them I get new much more powerful techniques. This is great in combat, the enemy expects light breeze, or a small fireball, but instead gets gale force storm, or a gigantic fireball. What my chakra sphere, I call it mine because I am probably the only person who would be able to perform it, does is I create a solid sphere of chakra around me, then I work on controlling it, doing things like making it bigger, smaller, spin in different directions, ect. It makes for a really good chakra training tool. Anyways enough about me, it's time for you to learn the Konoha Shushin, come over here"

Quickly complying, even if she was a little upset over not finding out more about her Naruto-kun, Hinata found herself standing a mere foot away from Naruto. "Now like all Shunshin the Konoha Shunshin has no hand seals. What you do is you focus all of your chakra into your hands first off, this speeds up your hand movement so it looks like you didn't move them at all, then quickly you grab one of these" says Naruto as he pulls out a small ball "this is a Konoha smoke bomb, it is designed to explode in a puff of smoke and leaves, now the leaves are a special type of leaf, they absorb chakra, so the excess chakra used does not come back as feedback and hurt the user in travel. After you throw the smoke bomb down you focus all your chakra evenly across your entire body. Then focus on the point you want to arrive at. Close your eyes and imagine your chakra going to that point. When you feel a tugging at your chakra release it. This will pull you along with your chakra instantly to that point."

When Naruto was done he looked at Hinata and it seemed she had questions so he decided to give her the chance "any questions?"

Hinata, being overwhelmed at being taught by Naruto managed to ask her questions without stuttering "do you have to close your eyes? Why isn't this used in combat? And how do the leaves stop chakra feedback, why is that bad"

Deciding to answer her questions one at a time Naruto began "to be honest I have no idea why you have to close your eyes, but from what Kakashi-sensei has told me anyone who has kept their eyes open has became blinded, so it's very important to close them. Besides the delay from popping the smoke bomb down, there is a lag time between when you arrive at your destination and when you get your eyes open and can move again. This is only 3 seconds, but in combat 3 seconds can mean the difference between life and death. Finally as for the chakra feedback, when you release your chakra most of it returns to you when you arrive, but some of it stays at the departure point, until a second or two after you arrive, then it warps back to you and hits you, from what Kakashi-sensei described its kinda like getting hit by Jyuken, but everywhere. So the leaves absorb the chakra preventing that effect. Enough of the theory, time for the practical. Hinata I want you to focus on just getting the high speed smoke bomb toss down. While you train I'll be practising a jutsu a thought up, call me when you think you have it done."

Naruto managed to turn around and get ten feet away before he heard Hinata calling him back. Despite not believing that she he managed to get this done so fast Naruto turned around and saw Hinata standing there one second, and instantly covered in a cloud of smoke and leaves the next. Shocked at Hinata's fast and flawless mastery of the Konoha smoke bomb toss Naruto could only gape

"Wow Hinata, that's awesome, even me and Sasuke took an hour to get that."

Blushing at Naruto's prise Hinata quickly returned to her stuttering "a ano…t this I is a a l lot like Jyuken."

Naruto replied with an ahh followed by "still, you managed to master it in a couple seconds, how you can believe you're a failure I don't know. Anyways it's time for the next part. I want you to try focusing on that tree over there and see if you can perform the Shunshin to travel to that tree."

This time Naruto watched Hinata, when she disappeared in a puff of smoke he looked over to the tree expectedly but after a couple seconds when nothing arrived he looked over to see Hinata only a foot or two away from where she had started. "Don't worry Hinata, you just let go of the chakra too soon, it hadn't reached full strength yet. Try some more while I work on that jutsu"

Walking over to a nearby tree Naruto started focusing his chakra on the air. Gently guiding the air with his chakra he slowly created a vacuum around the tree. Slowly some of the leaves on the tree start to turn brown. Seeing that his jutsu is working Naruto tried to move the vacuum to the next tree, but suddenly Naruto loses control and all the air rushes back into the area he was creating the vacuum, resulting in a surpassingly strong wind that picked up a loose branch and sent it flying to the back of Naruto's head. Hearing Naruto hit the ground in pain; Hinata accidently gets distracted as she about to Shushin and ends up above Naruto, in the air. When her body remembers that gravity exists she crashes down onto Naruto. Knocking them both out. Leaving them in a very suggestive position.

* * *

**Training Ground seven: fifteen minutes later**

* * *

Naruto slowly became aware of the world around him, he noticed he was outside, on the ground, and there was something nice and warm on top of him. Still half asleep he gave whatever it was a hug cus it was nice and warm, hearing a moan he opens his eyes, to see that the nice warm thing on him was Hinata, realizing just the position they are in he starts fidgeting trying to get out. Fate deciding to be cruel decided now would be the perfect time for Hinata to wake up.

Hinata also slowly became aware that the nice pillow she was lying on was trying to escape. In her mostly asleep state she didn't think it was odd for a pillow to be fidgeting and trying to crawl away. So she decided to hug the pillow closer. When she heard her name being called out quietly by the pillow she realized something was wrong, pillows don't normally talk to her. Opening her eyes slowly, as they began to focus in she saw she was on top of Naruto, that he was blushing brightly, and that she was hugging him tightly. Quickly realizing the position she was in she jumped away faster than a Shushin, while Naruto also sprung up and jumped away in the opposite direction the moment she was off him. Both of them looking away from each other to hide their respective blushes. Naruto deciding to break the awkward silence said "so…Hinata how goes the Shunshin practise.'

Deciding to agree with Naruto that it would be best if she just forgot about it, expect for in her dreams, Hinata replied "it went good; when you were hurt I managed to Shunshin to you, although I was a few meters off, so instead of being next to you I was above you." Before going off into blushing land.

Deciding to step in Naruto said "well…then…how about you try and Shunshin us to the Hyuga compound. If you can do that you will have mastered the Shunshin." When Hinata agreed Naruto stepped over to her and wrapped his arm around her waist "well let's go"

'Must not faint, must not faint, must not faint' was all that occupied Hinata's thoughts as she fought both the approaching darkness, and the growing blush at being held by Naruto. Focusing as hard as she could Hinata managed to Shunshin both of them to the gates of the Hyuga compound, then fainting right after.

Naruto picking her up bridal style carried her to the guard at the gate and said "Hinata fainted just after she finished training, could you take her to her room." Nodding without saying anything the guard took Hinata and departed for her room. Feeling tired himself Naruto decided to head back home and departed to his apartment in a Shunshin.

* * *

**Training Ground seven: the next day**

* * *

When Kakashi arrived at the training ground he found himself alone. Nothing but him and an empty training ground, a silent wind blew through the grounds. This left Kakashi quite shocked, he never had to wait for someone, no one was later than him 'I was going to go easy on them but because there dare to be later then me I shalt enjoy a little punishment. Him, no that's too brutal, plus Anko might come after me for advice after hearing of it. Hmm.' Just then Kakashi snapped his fingers together 'that's it, ha they will learn never to be later then me again'

* * *

**Training Ground seven: 1 hour later**

* * *

This time when Kakashi reappeared in the training grounds his team stood in front of him, with Naruto and Sasuke scowling at him. All Kakashi did was hold up three blank white pieces of paper.

'…' were the thoughts of our three young genin.

Losing patience after only ten seconds Naruto yelled out "What the hell are those pieces of paper for?" with both Hinata and Sasuke nodding in agreement

Giving an eye smile Kakashi said "simple, Chakra paper"

Yet again the genin team found themselves waiting for a continuation. For Kakashi to say something, anything. Yet there was nothing. Nothing but silence. Team seven was sure they were going insane; they had even started to hear crickets. This time the one to snap was not Naruto but Sasuke

"Well then Kakashi-sensei, what is chakra paper?"

Giving another eye smile, 'damn that's getting irritating' thought the three genin; Kakashi began "its special paper to test your elemental affinity." Stopping once more to irritate his young genin 'this will teach them to be later then _me_'

Hinata, being the genius she was, even if her entire clan would deny it under penalty of death, caught onto Kakashi's little game "ano, Kakashi-sensei, wha what is elemental affinity, and ano how does the paper work?"

'Curse you Hinata, you have figured it out haven't you? Sometimes I regret choosing a team of geniuses, maybe that's why Jariya-sama only teaches idiots?' sighing Kakashi began "elemental affinity is what element your best at, it is also the element which you will be able to convert your chakra to. So instead of manipulating the element with normal chakra you use specially attuned chakra, called elemental chakra to control the element, because unlike normal chakra this chakra is in tune with the element you can manipulate it easier and do more with it. "Before Kakashi could continue with his explanation his was interrupted by the ever energetic Naruto "So you mean like how all the Uchiha's are good with fire?"

Sighing once more Kakashi decided to correct his blonde student "Kind of Naruto, most people think that all Uchiha's have a fire affinity, but that's not true. The reason is that everyone can have two elemental affinities, while some people with special bloodlines can have more, normal people can only have two affinities. Your first affinity is called your primary affinity. Your primary affinity is your strongest elemental affinity. It will be easy to use, and should come almost naturally. Your second affinity has to be earned. By learning one elemental strongly, you can develop a secondary affinity for it. This is why everyone thinks all Uchiha's have a fire affinity; they do in a sense, just as a secondary developed affinity, because of all the fire jutsu they learn." Pausing to see if he students are getting it, Kakashi sees that Sasuke and Hinata seem to understand fairly well, while Naruto is slightly struggling but doing pretty good, he decides to continue "I myself am an example of this. My primary element is lightning, while my secondary element is earth. In case you're wondering I developed my secondary affinity for earth during the war against Iwa, I ended up using enough doton jutsu to develop an affinity for earth. Anyways enough with the explanation its time for the practical. To answer your second question Hinata the cards work by detecting the slight differences in your chakra that signify an elemental affinity. So all you do is channel chakra and the card will respond. If it cuts in half its wind, burns its fire, gets wet its water, turns to dust its earth and if it crumples it's lightning." With that Kakashi hands out one card to Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata.

Focusing on the cards all three leaf genin channel their chakra into their respective cards, what happens was not what Kakashi was expecting.

Hinata's card as the closest to what Kakashi has expected. For Hinata he thought she would probably be water, it just seemed her nature, but not to this level. Normally when a person has an elemental affinity with water the card gets damp, sometimes it gets soaked. Hinata's card had some water formed on top of the card it was so wet. An affinity to water this strong had not been heard of since the Nidame himself.

Sasuke's card, well at least part of it was expected. When Sasuke channelled chakra into his card half of it up in flames instantly, while the other half crumpled. Kakashi had expected Sasuke to have an affinity to fire, with all the Uchiha clan fire jutsu he learnt and how easy he had learnt them, but this was unexpected, a double primary affinity. Outside of an elemental bloodline this was nearly never heard of.

But of all the cards Naruto's was the most surprising. It had started out fine; it sliced right in half, perfectly down the middle. Then it went wrong. The right hand side crumpled while the left stayed blank. This was not something Kakashi had expected from the son of his teacher. Even in death that man finds ways to surprise Kakashi.

Seeing his three students looking at him with questioning faces Kakashi sighs and begins to explain what thinks happened. 'This is not what I was hoping for, I want to make them work yet I end up working the most grr'

"Um…this was unexpected. I think I'll start with the easiest to explain, Hinata; you have the strongest water affinity I have seen, ever. You would have to ask hokage-sama but I think that it's pretty close to that of the Nidame's. To explain this concept, the stronger you affinity with an element the easier it is to use. Now Sasuke, well I have no idea what the hell caused this. From the look of it I think you have two primary affinities. The only time I have seen that happen is in the case of an elemental blood limit, seeing as you're an Uchiha and I know for certain your father didn't have any elemental blood limits, not sure about your mother thou. I think this is just a rare fluke event that ended up benefiting you. Unfortunately you ended up with the short end of the stick in duel primaries. Lightning and fire doesn't create anything, expect more lightning and fire. If they meshed together you could have had the ability to use a sub type element, like the firsts moukton. Naruto, Naruto, Naruto. I have a slight, and I stress the word slight, idea about what your card means. You clearly have a primary affinity with wind, and then I think you have two secondary elements, lightning and a blank element that can be developed like a normal secondary affinity. I have absolutely no idea what that means though, it might just mean you can use three types of elemental chakra, or you could fuse them together to form sub elements, I just honestly don't know."

Looking down at his genin he sees mixed emotion on their faces, Hinata with a look of both awe at the strength of her element and sadness that her father probably won't let her learn to use it. In Sasuke face there is the patented Uchiha scowl, now while Sasuke is normally a happy person; it's a side effect of being around Naruto for far FAR too long, he's not that happy that while he got the one in a million fluke of having twin primary elements they don't combine so he's stuck with just normal elemental manipulation. While Naruto was pure joy at having two elements, one being wind, 

his favourite, and the ability to gain a third. Plus the possibility that he might get a sub type element later on.

Deciding to finally get his vengeance Kakashi says "ok it is time for elemental manipulation one o one. Be warned however this is something you don't learn until you are a high Chunin level Nin, in fact one of the requirements for becoming a Jonin is to be able to manipulate two elemental chakras. Hinata you got the easier job out of the three of you. All of you are going to perform the leaf manipulation. The idea of leaf manipulation is to get use to converting your chakra to your element. Naruto and Sasuke, chose an element to start practising with, you will both have to work harder at this then Hinata, as while she only has to learn this once you have to learn it twice, and Naruto you may have to learn it a third time. When you are successful in converting your chakra to your element the leaf will react in a similar way as the paper did. For lightning it will crumple, for fire it will burn, for earth it will turn to dust, for wind it will split in half and for water it will get wet."

After Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke collect their leaves and begin focusing their chakra into the leaves Kakashi says one last thing before pulling out his book. "When channelling your chakra think of both the element and what you want it to do, so for wind think of the wind and think cutting, ect. Oh and this is the only training session we will spend on this. Because this is such a high level technique it would take weeks to learn. So learn it on your own time, as of tomorrow we start you basic chakra exercises." With that Kakashi sits down and enjoys a nice read while watching his students suffer.

* * *

**Authors notes:**

Yo, fast chapter, but that's cus as of now I'm on break until July 14 I think, that plus less story updates for the stories I read leaves me with more time to write.

To those of you who are wondering, I will not be touching on elemental manipulation again for a while, unlike Naruto in shippuuden they are learning it the old fashioned way, so it will take a lot longer, but if you look closely you will see the affects of their training in the story.

Why does Naruto have the potential for three elements? Why does he have lighting element? Why does Sasuke have two primaries? Why is Hinata's water affinity so strong? You'll just have to wait and see. If you have a guess pm me, if it's right I think of a prize. If it's really good I might incorporate it into my plans for the explanation.

Oh and there's a poll in my profile: what should I do after wave.


	7. Training Kakashi style

**Training Ground seven: the next day**

* * *

When Kakashi arrives at the training ground, three hours late as usual, there is something wrong. There is no one else there. It is empty. Just like yesterday. This can only cause one event. One very unhappy porn reading elite Jonin. What happens when you have one very unhappy porn reading elite Jonin as your teacher you might ask? Well it's not a scene from Icha Icha that's for sure. No, it's pain time. After his first attempt at pain failed, miserably I might add, Kakashi decided on something crueler. 'Well, if nature manipulation didn't teach them their lesson then maybe the high level chakra manipulations will. If I recall correctly Hinata hasn't done any chakra manipulations other then stand academy ones, while Sasuke has yet to finish kunai balancing, but damn, what to do about Naruto.' Just then a light bulb appeared above the Jonin's head 'I know, he said he was reading, sealing 101, hmm. I know, I'll teach him advanced seals and how they work. If I recall correctly sealing 101 doesn't teach anything about actual sealing, just how to duplicated some real common seals, pre-encrypted, so I get to fill him in on all the confusing mubo jumbo that goes with sealing, ha, If getting a lesson in high level sealing doesn't drive him mad I don't know what will.' With that Kakashi broke up into manic laughter before Shunshining off to find his tardy students this time instead of going off, reading some Icha Icha and coming back three hours later.

* * *

**Ichiraku Ramen:**

* * *

"Ah, Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata-sama. How did your early morning training go?" asked the ramen chef as he started preparing a Naruto meal. The creation of the Naruto meal was a very interesting birthday present to our young Jinchuriki.

* * *

**Flashback no jutsu: Naruto's Tenth birthday**

* * *

"Please Kakashi-sensei, please please" begged Naruto, the reason for the begging comes from a debate between Naruto, Kakashi and Sasuke, even if Sasuke just stood there muttering about ramen obsessed blondes. What the debate was about you might ask, well, it's something only our favourite ramen obsessed blonde would argue about. Whether or not to have Naruto's birthday lunch at Ichiraku or a decent restaurant. While Naruto was feverishly arguing that they should go to Ichiraku's as there is no meal superior to ramen, Kakashi having had ramen for lunch, for three weeks in a row. All because of a stupid bet he made with Naruto over whether or not he could master a jutsu in 3 days. After having ramen for three weeks straight Kakashi was really, really, really, REALLY tired of having ramen for lunch.

"But Kakashi-sensei, it's my birthday, PLEASE" begged Naruto. Finally Kakashi decided to give in, not because Naruto was getting to him, just because at this rate they will miss both lunch and dinner before Naruto stops begging. If ever.

* * *

**Ichiraku ramen: 5 minutes later**

* * *

Having dragged Sasuke and Kakashi to Ichiraku's Naruto got a big surprise. In front of him was a great big boll of Pork, Miso and chicken ramen. Naruto looks up from the bowl to Teuchi and Ayame. Who are both looking down at him with big smiles on their faces. Ayame deciding to fill in Naruto. "Happy birthday Naruto, turning ten is a big thing, so to celebrate we made you a new dish we created just for you. The Naruto meal, Three times as big as a normal bowl of ramen it contains pork, Miso and chicken ramen. Your three favourites, as the first customer to taste the new Naruto meal, it's on the house."

All Naruto could do was stare at Ayame and Teuchi, before he started crying. Ayame's smile fell right off her face, thinking that it was somehow her fault that Naruto was sad. Kakashi saw this as instantly understood. No one had ever treated Naruto this way. He was just overwhelmed, deciding to step in before there was more of a misunderstanding Kakashi cleared his throat before saying. "It's not your fault he's crying Ayame-san. It's just no one other than me and Sasuke here have treated Naruto with such kindness before, it's just so foreign to him that he is simply overwhelmed."

Ayame looking down at Naruto saw the look of confirmation on his face as he nodded and he picked up his chopsticks. Softly saying "itadakimasu" Naruto picked up some of the noddles with his chopsticks. Slowly rising them to his mouth, pausing a second before is mouth, before shoving them in and started chewing slowly. Slowly a look of realization crossed Naruto's face. Almost like he had some revelation about the meaning of life or something like that. All of a sudden the chop sticks where back in the bowl and Naruto began shovelling the ramen into his mouth, swallowing without chewing it anymore, he managed to work out in-between mouth full's. "this…gulp…really… chew…great…" after devouring the bowl in record time Naruto let loose a great burp, while saying "that was…THE BEST RAMEN EVER!!" deafening Kakashi, Sasuke and any Inuzuka within half a mile. Teuchi and Ayame smiled even more than before, both at the fact that Naruto enjoyed their birthday present, and that since the bowl is more expensive they have a lot more cash coming their way than normal.

* * *

**Flashback no jutsu KAI**

* * *

"So Sasuke and Hinata-sama what are you going to order" asked Ayame while her father was preparing Naruto's ramen.

Smiling meekly Hinata replied "one Miso please…and ano, co-uld y you p please not call me Hinata-sa Sama. I'm n not w worthy o of b been c called sama" stuttering heavily on the end. At which Naruto scowled.

"Hinata, if anyone is worthy of been called Sama it's you. Not only are you from a great and powerful clan, but you are both strong and caring. Never say you are not worthy of anything ever again."

Hinata blushing red from what Naruto had said, even if it wasn't meant entirely the way Hinata took it. Just then Kakashi decided to pop in with a puff of smoke.

"What are you three doing here" he said, with an angry tone in his voice, something Hinata had never heard before and something that Sasuke and Naruto had only heard once or twice.

Naruto turned around and said, with a smile on his face, "We are having an after training breakfast."

Giving Naruto a puzzled look Kakashi asked "training? You're meant to be waiting for me at training ground seven"

Still smiling Naruto returned "yeah, well, since you're always three hours late we decided that starting yesterday we would train while we waited, after we were done we would have some breakfast before waiting for you to show up. by the way why are you here ero-sensei? Do you have ramen for breakfast as well?"

Shaking his head Kakashi said "No. I'm here because you three are later then me for training. For the second time. Why do you think I gave you such hard training yesterday, I don't like waiting." At this Naruto's face turned to panic, Sasuke remained neutral; although a little upset he hasn't had a chance to order yet, while Hinata blushed with embarrassment at been late for two training sessions in a row. "What? We're later then you? Come on guys we better go then" just as Naruto was about to drag Hinata and Sasuke back to the training grounds, without even haven ramen, Kakashi gave them a little eye smile and said "maa, let's have breakfast first, and how about from now on we meet up here instead of the training grounds, that why I won't miss you." At this Naruto cheered, Sasuke looked down at been condemned to having ramen every morning, while Hinata just smiled meekly, she seemed to slowly be getting better at interacting with her teammates.

* * *

**Training ground seven: half an hour later**

* * *

"Ok, now I had planned to be cruel and make you all entire hard training for been late." At this team seven looked relived that they wouldn't be put through the torture that Kakashi called 'training' yesterday. There was a good reason elemental manipulation was considered a high level Chunin skill. It is one of the most exhausting exercises one can do. It leaves you completely drained, mentally, physically and chakra wise. "And we are still going to do them" at this team seven let out a groan, looks like they were not spared after all.

"Today we are doing chakra exercises, Hinata have you done any chakra exercises outside of the basic academy ones?" Hinata shook her head in a negative reply "ok good, you're lucky, as you're a kunoichi you have better chakra control then Naruto and Sasuke here, but you have less chakra. So you are going to play catch up in the chakra exercises, and once you have finished them you will move onto chakra building. As the more chakra you have the harder it is to control, that is why we teach you control first as it will help you deal with the higher levels of chakra easily. Sasuke, you're going to continue Kunai balancing, but instead of balancing the kunai on your finger, you will be balancing your entire body on the kunai point. I'll show you how to do that after I've explained tree walking to Hinata. Finally Naruto, since you seem to enjoy sealing." Kakashi pauses before giving an evil laugh "I'll be helping you in understanding how real fuinjutsu works." After finishing Kakashi gives another evil laugh, while the genin cringe in fear. When someone like Kakashi laughs, especially evilly, it's a REALLY bad sign for your continued wellbeing.

"Well then, follow me Hinata" says Kakashi as he starts walking to a big tree a bit over from where everyone else was. Hinata quickly falls into step behind and slightly to the side of him. Noticing this Kakashi frowns under his mask, 'this is something that needs fixing, Hinata seems to be making improvement interacting with the rest of the team, well not so much Naruto, but then Naruto's personally is so different from hers. Yet, this shyness and inferiority issues seem to be deeply ingrained. Poor Hinata, she acts insecure and weak because her subconscious thinks that is the way she should be behaving, this will defiantly be hard to fix.' Finally reaching the tree Kakashi stops and turns around "now Hinata, what you need to do is climb this tree without using your hands. What you have to do is draw chakra down to your feet, the hardest place is the body to control chakra, and use it to stick to the tree. Watch." Kakashi walks towards the tree and starts walking, having mastered this exercise to the level where he can walk on surfaces without even thinking about it anymore. Once he reaches the top he turns around and looks down at Hinata "I want you to practise this until it becomes natural, to the level where I could throw you at the tree and you would stick to it without thinking about it." With that he tosses a kunai down to her and says "use this to mark your progress." With that Kakashi jumps off the tree and heads towards Sasuke, who is trying to balance a kunai on his finger, and failing, painfully.

"Poor Sasuke, if you can't balance the kunai on your finger then this training exercise will hurt. A lot." Grabbing the kunai off Sasuke Kakashi embeds it handle first 5cm into the ground. "ok now lie down next to the kunai." Complying with Kakashi's strange request Sasuke lies down next to the kunai. "ok now rest your finger on the kunai tip." Still not seeing where this was going Sasuke follows along. "Good, now try and raise your finger above the kunai using your chakra." Starting to get a sinking feeling Sasuke yet again follows Kakashi's instructions "good, now push your hand down just using your elbow, while maintaining the chakra push" Sasuke follows Kakashi's instructions. Seconds later a yell is heard, as Sasuke stabs the kunai about half a centimetre. Smiling Kakashi says "well, it seems you were not releasing enough chakra, once you can push down with your elbow move to your entire arm, then your entire body. Once you can push down with all your weight call me and I'll give you the next step, oh and here is some bandages and blood replenishing pills, trust me you'll need them" Kakashi says as he tosses the bandages and pills to Sasuke before heading off to Naruto.

"ah Naruto, you get to enjoy me explaining seals, there is a reason that seal masters are the most highly sought after type of ninja, while they are the most powerful…" before Kakashi could finish Naruto cut him off yelling in joy, Kakashi silenced him with a loud "But" turning his attention back to Kakashi Naruto listened while Kakashi explained "it is also the most difficult to learn, kinda. Sealing it's self is unbelievably simple. All it takes is a few kanji and chakra." At this Naruto interrupts

"But Kakashi-sensei, all the seals I've seen have been in this really complex squiggly stuff." Nodding at Naruto Kakashi explained

"That's because you have only seen encrypted seals, every seal you will ever see in use is encrypted. This is to protect the seals from been cracked. Let's say Konoha made a superior explosive seal, you wouldn't want the enemies to find out how it works right? So every seal master attaches an encryption seal as the last seal in the sequence. This encrypts the seal the second it is finished, every encryption is identical, but because of how incredibly complex it is no one has ever been able to decipher the encryption code, so it doesn't matter. The only down side with the encryption seal is that if you duplicate the encryption exactly, it will still work just like the original seal was designed. So if the enemy managed to get a hold of an encrypted seal they could copy it, but they would be unable to understand how it works, why it works, what exactly it does, and how to replicate it other than copy then highly complicated code. So to duplicate an encrypted seal would take hours upon hours, while a normal seal could be made in minutes, seconds if the seal is simple and the seal master is skilled enough. The other problem with copying an encrypted seal is that it has to be finalized with chakra in the right manner, but as the user does not know what the manner is, because they don't know how the seal works, they have to try through trial and error, so it can take months to figure out how even some of the simplest seals work."

While Kakashi stopped a moment to let it all sink into Naruto, Naruto just stared at Kakashi with a look of awe on his face. Deciding Naruto had enough time to let it sink in Kakashi continues

"Each Kanji determines how a seal will work; I will give you an example as it is the best way to understand." Pulling out a small piece of paper, seal brush and small pot of ink, Kakashi draws the kanji for lightning, then turns to Naruto "this is how we created a basic shock tag, first is the kanji for lightning, as you see right now, this stores the electrical charge," Kakashi then draws a circle around it writes the kanji for five, then a little away from that rights the kanji for time. "The circle is a barrier; it holds the electrical charge in, keeping it from escaping. The five denotes how long something will be, the time kanji means that the 5 is time, so the barrier will hold for five seconds after the seal is activated." Kakashi then draws the kanji for first, but rights it twice the normal size, over the time kanji "this means that when the seal is activated the first kanji activated is the timer, this is very important, if you don't add this step the chakra will randomly activate either the timer or the charge storage, if it activates the charge storage, you'll be in for a shock." Finally Kakashi draws a line from the final stroke of the kanji for time, to the first stroke of the kanji for five, then from the final stroke of the kanji for five to the circle. "This signifies the relation, so the timer is activated, it is activated for five seconds, and the timer is for the barrier. Once the barrier releases the lightning kanji will be unable to contain the chakra anymore and release it."

Pausing for a moment Kakashi is about to continue when Naruto asks a question

"So is that it?" frowning at his students impatience Kakashi says

"No Naruto, there are two more steps first we need to apply the right chakra to the seal. To begin I simply apply normal chakra to the circle. The charges the barrier, then I apply lightning element chakra to the lightning kanji, this charges the kanji, the more lightning chakra I add the more powerful the tag."

At this Naruto asks the obvious question "then does that mean that I'll only be able to create seals that have to do with wind, lightning and my third element?"

Smiling at his student's intelligence Kakashi decides to inform Naruto about one of the most interesting aspects of seals "no Naruto. There is a really powerful seal called a chakra converter. What it does is it takes your normal chakra and then converts it to the chakra of the right element. Despite how useful this sounds it is not used in battle for one small reason. It is highly inefficient. It has an efficiency of one percent. So for example, if you put enough chakra to create one hundred kage bunshin in the seal, you would get enough chakra of the right element to create 1 kage bunshin. This makes it more efficient to just use your normal chakra in battle rather than the elemental chakra, as the bonus gained from using elemental chakra is not worth the in most situations. Thanks to your massive chakra reserves you may be able to use this in the future for two elements you lack, but it would only be realistic for jutsu that require chakra of the right element and will not work with normal chakra."

Then a moment of inspiration hits Naruto, one of those really rare profound thoughts. "Um, Kakashi sensei?"

"Yes Naruto?"

"Would it be more efficient if you converted the chakra to an element you already possess, for example I have a secondary affinity with lightning, if I used a lightning conversion seal to increase my affinity to that of a level matching a primary element would it be more chakra efficient?"

At this a dumb look crosses Kakashi's face, even though you can't see it through the mask

"…I never thought of that, I don't think anyone has. once you get skilled enough to start creating your own seals we'll have to try that, as you would have to create your own seal array to do that, as the normal one is reliant on the fact you have no affinity with the element, so it forces the chakra to convert to the element, but that is why it wastes so much chakra, but you are looking more for a seal the strength of the lightning chakra, that should in theory be more efficient, but probably more difficult to create. Anyways we have moved off topic, we still need to finish off this seal."

At that Naruto looks confused "what do you mean, what's left?"

Shaking his head Kakashi says "Naruto, what was the first thing I told you about?"

"Um…oh encryption, we didn't encrypt this seal"

Smiling this time Kakashi nods his head "yes, now we draw the seal for encryption like this" with that Kakashi draws the kanji for encryption really big, so that it covers everything else on the seal "the encryption kanji will only effect kanji that it is drawn over, now we just channel chakra into the encryption kanji like this and…" as Kakashi channels chakra into the encryption kanji the lines of the different kanji begin to break apart, and form the classical squiggles you see in normal seals. They then glow blue and Kakashi removes his hand "now the seal is complete and ready for use, watch" with that Kakashi channels a bit of chakra into the seal to activate it and tosses it at a tree, five seconds later the area where the seal was is burnt black from the lightning travelling through it.

Naruto yells in excitement "cool"

Smiling Kakashi pulls a book out of his pouch and says "this is called 'an introduction to seals, by Minato Namikaze' now; whatever happens you cannot let this book fall into the hands of anyone else. Sealing guides are one of the most valuable things in the elemental countries. Especially ones by Minato-sensei, he was the world's most renowned seal master, his nickname of the yellow flash, was thanks to his use of seals to create his signature technique the 'Hiraishin no jutsu'."

At this Naruto just smiles, then laughs in excitement. His hero, the fourth hokage, even if he did seal the kyuubi into him, was known for his seals, and Naruto was learning seals. It was all Naruto could do to keep from dancing around yelling.

Kakashi gives Naruto an eye smile before sitting down under a tree and watching his three students train.

* * *

**AN:**

Well, that was fun, I have had this chapter in mind for ages, it has just taken a while to sit down and actually write it. Next chapter, the mission to wave.

Oh and for the elements, no one has been close, although '9 taled fox' inspired me for Hinata, kinda. I was looking for a reason why Hinata's element was water, and he gave me an idea, so congrats to him.

Also here is a hint, while the reason for Sasuke, and Hinata having odd elements has do with the kyuubi, Naruto's does not. As a further hint, Sasuke and Hinata's reason is hinted at in the first chapter, somewhere, good reason to go back and read the new edited version ne?

Finally, looks like after wave will be more training, from the looks of the poll, the poll will continue until the next chapter, which should be out either next week or the week after, depending on when inspiration strikes. I'm going to try and go for a chapter a week, or at the latest a chapter every two.

ja


	8. The mission to Wave Begins

**Authors Note: sorry about this, I made a mistake that was pointed out in a review. i said Naruto did fire training, i meant to write out lightning. thats why i like reviews, i must have re-wrote Naruto's training section 5 times and never noticed the fire training.  
**

* * *

**Time skip: Five months**

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After five months of hours of daily training Kakashi has finally decided it is time for his students to get to do a mission. Now that they have finally reached the level he feels is necessary for a C-rank mission. Maybe it was his stuffed up chil

dhood, or that failed mission that cost his best friends life, but Kakashi's idea of the level of skill required for a C-rank was a little, ok fine a lot, off. Hinata, having mastered tree walking, water walking and kunai balancing in 3 months had moved onto chakra building. After getting her chakra level up to what could be considered high Chunin, in a month and a half she started to learn the Jyuken move that Kakashi considered most important. The Kaiten. The ability to act as a giant shield, with her massive chakra control and much larger reserves Hinata has taken to the role of shield quite well. Yet in saying that she is also one of the most dangerous, for not only is Hinata the shield, but the sword as well. As a side effect of Kakashi's training Hinata's speed and flexibility has increased dramatically, this in turn makes her Jyuken much more dangerous.

Hinata was not the only one to improve. Sasuke, after much, much, pain mastered the kunai balancing as well. Spending an entire three months on it, vs. the 2 Hinata had, for his much higher reserves made it nearly impossible to focus out such a minuscule amount of chakra. And constantly adjust that as the weight changed from him raising himself. Upon finally mastering that, Kakashi decided it was time for more 'fun' training. Attempting to unlock his Sharingan. Now in most cases it takes a life threatening situation where the Sharingan could save the users life to unlock it. So that's exactly what Kakashi did. High speed spars, much faster than Sasuke could hope to stand up against. Every day Sasuke would end up in the hospital for the rest of the night. The doctors protested, Sasuke and Kakashi ignored them. Finally, four and a half months later, the very day the doctors were planning on using their medical powers, after filling out the mountains of paperwork required, to force the two Shinobi to stop it happened. Sasuke unlocked his Sharingan. Two tomoes in his right eye and one in his left, form that day on Sasuke spent the rest of his time training on how to master the use of the Sharingan. Managing to get it to evolve to two tomoes in both eyes.

Finally there was Naruto. While not as obvious as Sasuke and Hinata's growth Naruto's was just as large, if not larger. For Naruto, now a seal adept. Having completely mastered the fourth hokages books on sealing, there was but one thing standing between him and becoming a seal master. His own high level seal. The final test to become a master of seals was to create your own high level seal. The fourth hokages seal was the one used for the Hiraishin; Jiraya's seal was a special rapid frog summoning seal. The thing that was special about Jiraya's seal was that it was a simple seal that could b e placed on the palm of one's hand. Then by wiping blood across it the user could summon whatever toad they wanted with one hundred percent certainty, with the exception of for some reason been unable to summon that toad normally, such as lack of chakra. The truly amazing this about this seal was it effectively reduced the amount of chakra needed to summon a toad. Normally different toads are ranked on chakra required to summon them. You provide chakra within a toads rank and you will summon the first available toad. What Jiraya's seal does is it draws out the exact amount of chakra required to summon that toad, no more no less, and because of the precision it is capable of a certain summon, unless that toad is unavailable.

Naruto's seal would be just as impressive as these two if he could get it to work. The reason most rookie Jonin end up dead is not due to inexperience, it is due to a lack of understanding. Most rookie Jonin, just having mastered their secondary element, think that they are as adapt in their secondary as their primary. This leads to overconfidence, and when they inevitably come up against someone whose primary element is their secondary. They die. Only those few Jonin who understand this, or are lucky enough to survive long enough to understand this, live to see a long, by ninja standards, life. Naruto's seal will fix this. By amplifying the power of a secondary affinity to that of a primary. The seal is actually several seals blended together, this is where the problem originates. The first seal is a simple chakra draining seal. The chakra is then focused and the element the seal is based on is amplified. The chakra is then is stored in the third seal, a chakra storing seal. Finally the fourth seal is a chakra sensing seal. It allows the user to regulate the entire seal system through the use of their chakra. With it they can stop the seal from draining anymore chakra, increase or decrease the chakra drain, adjust wether all the converted chakra is stored or if some of it is leaked out, if it is leaked out how much, and finally allowing the entire chakra store to be released at once. This all adds up to an extremely complicated seal, but if Naruto could get it to work, anyone who used the seal would be able to store up enough elemental chakra to be equal to the amount of chakra in their primary. Able to constantly convert his normal chakra into element chakra in battle, at a high cost but still able to. Plus in theory this seal would be able to amplify both ones secondary and primary affinities higher than a normal primary, in theory.

There is only one problem with Naruto's seal knowledge. Most of it he can't apply. Seals require the manipulation of elemental chakra, something Naruto has trouble with. Despite working on it for 5 months Naruto still doesn't have his nature manipulation down to the fine level required for seals. Despite both cutting and Crumpling a leaf, cutting a waterfall in half, and Electrifying an entire lake, he's chakra manipulation while good is not to the high level required for seals. Luckily for Naruto he has started on the final elemental manipulation lesson, one only required for sealing. Cutting a rock wall in half and electrifying a wall of rock.. This doesn't help Naruto in the least, as his C-rank mission is about to start

* * *

**Training ground seven:**

* * *

Waiting under the tree Naruto and Hinata sit at the base of the tree while Sasuke sits in a branch. When Kakashi arrives in a puff of smoke they get up to start training, this is when Kakashi starts talking "don't worry about training, I think your finally ready for a mission"

At the mention of a mission Naruto's eyes glow, finally a chance to see how he fares in real combat. "What's the mission what's the mission?" asks Naruto impatiently.

"Well, we'll have to go to hokage tower to see if there are any C-rank missions available."

So off they set to the hokage tower

* * *

**Hokage Tower**

* * *

As team seven enters the mission room Kakashi says "team seven requesting a C-rank mission"

At this Iruka jumps up and starts berating Kakashi "You can't seriously think they are ready for a C-rank mission, they were just in the academy five months ago, and they haven't even completed a single D-rank mission yet."

Kakashi just looks at Iruka blankly "as I discussed with hokage-sama, I don't feel like wasting my time, and my team's time, by doing chores. While other groups have been doing D-rank missions we have been training. Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata are more than ready for a C-rank mission. They are more than likely capable of completing a B-rank mission by themselves, but I agreed with Hokage-sama when he said they needed to start by doing at least C-ranks. So I would like my team's mission now"

Rage flashing across Iruka's face at been talked down to, and how Kakashi seemed to not care about putting his students, who where little more than kids, into a deadly situation, turns to the hokage and yells "hokage-sama, you can't allow this!"

Puffing on his pipe the old man says "Iruka, I agreed with Kakashi after his team graduated, having watched their bell test, that when he feels they are ready they could start on C-rank missions," turning back to Kakashi the Third continued "you are in luck, a C-rank protection mission has came up, perfect for your team. Please send in our guest"

With that command the door slides open, Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke already knowing what type of person to be guarding on a C-ranked mission are still floored at his appearance. Leaning heavily against the door frame with a bottle of sake to his moth is an old man in well worn dark brown cloths. Their expectations of what someone like this would act like are completely confirmed when the first words to leave his mouth are "You expect me to believe that this little brats are ninja?" he pauses as he gulps down some more Sake before continuing "That little girl looks like she would lose in a battle with a fly!"

Now while a Naruto without spending most his life with Kakashi and Sasuke might have lost it at the man's first comment, both that Naruto and the one we see today would be angered to the point of attack by his second. 'no one insults one of my friends like that' thinks Naruto, before Kakashi can move, having not anticipated Naruto's reaction, a kunai has sliced all the way through the man's bottle of sake and embedded itself into the wall. The man looked at Naruto with his mouth hanging open that a brat, not even a teenager yet, could have a kunai right next to his head without even seeing him move. This also caused a reaction with Iruka, not knowing of Kakashi's secret training with Naruto he finds himself wondering 'what the hell did Kakashi do to get Naruto moving that fast in just five months, and when did his aim get so good?'

Naruto brought a halt to all this thinking when he said "Never insult one of my friends again, or even if I fail the mission because of it you will pay."

Gulping nervously at the death threat by his so called 'bodyguard' the man nodded. Deciding now would be a good time to introduce himself the man began "well, my name is Tazuna, and I'm a super bridge builder, and it's your job to give me super protection, even if it means dying, until I return home and complete my super bridge."

* * *

**Konoha Gates: 15 minutes later**

* * *

"Wooh" yelled Naruto, "This will be my first time outside of Konoha. After we have finished the mission I say we have ramen to celebrate!" this caused Sasuke and Kakashi to sigh, with Hinata giving a quite giggle.

"Naruto, we can't eat ramen all the time, it's not healthy." Berated Sasuke.

"But but, how could Ramen be bad for you? It's the food of gods!" Naruto practically yelled at Sasuke. Sighing, Sasuke realized that it was pointless to argue and just kept walking.

Looking from Naruto to the rest of the team Tazuna thought 'can they really protect me? Their just kids, sure that Naruto gaki is fast, but ninjas are really fast, are those three kids going to die because I lied? There's nothing I can do about it, this is more important than my life, more important than their lives, this is about saving my country. I have to do this, no matter what the cost.

* * *

**20 minutes later**

* * *

As they continued along the road in silence a small clearing appeared around the road. In the middle of the road there was a small puddle. This was noticed by all four ninja, who thought 'a puddle? In summer? When it hasn't rained in weeks? Something's up.' despite this they walked right past the puddle. With nothing happening, just as they are about to lower their guards two ninja wearing mist headbands, with a slash through them, rise from the puddle, and wrap the chain connecting the gauntlets on their left and right hands respectively, around Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei" yelled the three started genin, seconds later the two ninja pulled on the chains, tearing Kakashi to shreds. Shocked at this the three freeze. Seconds later the two nuke-nin appear behind Naruto. Snapping out of his frozen state Naruto reacts sending two kunai flying at the mist nins, kunai launched from seems to be hidden kunai holsters in the sleeves of his jacket. One Nin dodged to the left, putting his right in front of Sasuke, while the other dodged to the right, putting him in front of Hinata.

The Ninja In front of Hinata thought she would be easy prey. He was wrong. Reacting without thinking, Hinata lands a Jyuken strike to the chakra point right in the middle of the trachea, impairing the mans ability to breath. Normally this alone would be enough to incapacitate if not kill an enemy ninja, but right now Hinata is acting more out of deeply ingrained training then rational thought, so she continues her attack. Attacking while he stagging back from the shock of suddenly not been able to breathe Hinata lands a strike directly over the death gate, forcing her chakra through the gate unlocking it. Normally opening the death gate would give a ninja enough power to overwhelmed most kages at the cost of their life. The problem is you have to open all the gates in sequence. Hinata's Jyuken strike only opened the death gate. This resulted in a massive amount of chakra been channelled through the poor man's heart. Not been able to exit at the same speed it was entering it built up inside the coils intertwined with his heart. Until 3 seconds after the strike the coils exploded from the pressure, completely liquefying the man's heart.

Realizing what she had just done Hinata collapsed onto the ground next to the dead man.

Sasuke's battle didn't go any better. When the mist Nin appeared in front of him Sasuke quickly launched three kunai at him. Sensing the incoming attack the nuke-nin dodged, right where Sasuke wanted him. Quickly flashing through some hand seals Sasuke sucked in a deep breath, just as the mist nin started running towards him, he breathed out but instead of a breath of air, a gigantic fireball came "Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu" as the gigantic fireball rushed towards the Nin Sasuke expected him to dodge. What he didn't know is that the nuke-nin had built up too much speed to dodge this close. The fireball engulfed him, as he let loose screams of intense pain and then silence, Sasuke realized what he had just done. He had just killed that man. When the smoke cleared all that was left was a corpse that was charred beyond recognition. Felling sick at the sight Sasuke vomited up the ramen he had had for breakfast at Naruto's insistent demand.

While this was happening Naruto had ran to the bridge builder to make sure there wasn't any more ninja hiding waiting to strike. As Sasuke finished puking Kakashi exited the woods with a sad look on his face. "Sorry guys, if I had known you'd react like that I would have come out quicker, I wasn't expecting you to kill them." At this Naruto finally realizes just what happened. He looks to Hinata curled up in a ball on the ground shaking, next to the corpse of one of the mist nin, Sasuke walking away from a puddle of regurgitated ramen, near a lump of black char that kind of resembles a human. Realizing that Sasuke, while defiantly not looking that good, is better off than Hinata Naruto runs over to Hinata to try and comfort her.

"Shh, Hinata-chan its okay, you just did what you had to" said Naruto in the most soothing voice he could manage.

Uncurling enough to look up at Naruto, with tears streaming from her eyes Hinata asks "but but I I killed him, I'm a monster and I killed him" before she starts crying again, this time harder.

Feeling extremely upset that Hinata thinks she is a monster, a thought Naruto himself had had many times, Naruto crouches down next to her and grabs her hands saying "you're not a monster Hinata-chan. You're Hyuga Hinata, and my friend. I wouldn't be friends with a monster would I? So nothing to worry about because other then ero-Sasuke you're my best friend"

Pulled out of her sorrow and regret over killing the man by Naruto saying she is his best friend, Hinata sits up and starts to glow red when she realizes how close she is to Naruto both emotionally and physically. Not been able to handle the emotional stress of both killing a man and having Naruto declare she is his best friend she faints right onto Naruto. Feeling a little awkward over having Hinata faint on him Naruto picks her up and carriers her in his arms over to where Tazuna is before sitting her down.

As he approaches he hears Kakashi interrogating Tazuna

"Would you care to tell me why two of my students just made their first kills on their very first mission. A mission that was meant to be C-rank, no ninja, and yet there are two corpses here. From the looks of the one Hinata killed they were the demon brothers. Two Chunin level mist nuke-nin renowned for both their great teamwork and willingness to fight to the end.'

Sweating under Kakashi's glare mixed with some light killing intent Tazuna begins his story. "I'm sorry but I lied about the mission. While I am building a bridge there is more than just some bandits after me. I am been hunted by a man called Gato." At this Kakashi's eyes widen

"Gato? As in Gato of Gato shipping? The powerful and wealthy transportation tycoon?"

"The same, while as far as most people know he's a powerful business man, but what people don't know is that behind the scenes he sells drugs and contraband. Recently he took over the village hidden in the waves by buying out all our shipping companies. He now controls all access to and from the land of waves. I'm not sure why he wants to control the land of waves but he has set up a base, I think he might be planning to use the land of waves as a hub for his drug and contraband running. He is after me because the bridge I am building will take away the control he has over the land. Because of him controlling all access to and from wave everyone is poor, the entire village could only scrape enough money for a C-ranked mission, and that was by not eating every second day for three weeks."

Sighing Kakashi turns to his two conscious students. "With a man like Gato behind this, the next opponent we come up against will probably be a Jonin. This mission is right now B-ranked, and probably become A-ranked or even S-ranked depending on who Gato sends. I'm not sure we can continue on. Sasuke, while you had a pretty good reaction for your first kill, Hinata, well she has broken down. I'm not sure it would be safe for her to continue on."

Naruto getting a defiant glint in his eye says "Trust me Kakashi-sensei, after I spoke with Hinata she seemed fine, I just needed to reassure her that she wasn't a monster for killing that man. After that she blushed red and fainted. Why does she keep doing that?"

The other three there laughed at Naruto's complete obliviousness to the fact that Hinata is clearly in love with him.

"What's so funny?" asked Naruto angrily.

Waving his hand Kakashi replies "don't worry about it, now if you two are sure you want to continue and you are sure that Hinata will be able to handle this we will go on." After getting a nod from both boys Kakashi turns to face Tazuna "Next time tell us, I'm sure the hokage would have worked something out with you. Right now we will continue this mission, but will expect B, A or even S ranked pay depending on how the mission turns out, that is after your village is up and running."

With that Tazuna grinned happily, Kakashi picked up Hinata and slug her over his shoulder, and they continued onwards.

* * *

**Authors Notes:**

* * *

sorry about deleting and reuploaded, I forgot to put the formatting that FF strips from my doc back in before posting it.

Now this chapter was ready for posting last night, but I felt it needed a slight change or two so it could push back till today.

To pre-empt some responses

Training: I'm not sure what the heck happened in the cannon break between team meeting and wave (5 months according to online timelines) but I had them train until then. as for the actual training. With five months of work it's not hard to think Naruto could understand the entire scroll on seals. While sealing is highly complex, 5 months of nonstop minimum of 5 hours training plus whatever he did at home, it would be hard not to understand. The you might think this is off, but this scroll was written by the greatest seal master in history, of course it's a very in-depth guide for how to become a seal master. And before you start saying Naruto is overpowered, just because you know how something works doesn't mean you can do it. Naruto is a master of all the theory behind seals, but his elemental control is not high enough to create his own yet.

Kills reactions: well in every episode of the Naruto anime (I haven't read the manga) I have never seen any of the Konoha 12 kill someone. So it's safe to assume they would react poorly. Hinata a very shy timid girl just killed someone with a couple taps. I'm not sure about you but no matter how much training I had I probably wouldn't react well to that. As for Sasuke, he didn't see the person die in front of him. Sure he heard the guy scream as he was burnt to death but he didn't watch him die in front of him, from all the interviews I have seen with soldiers the hardest thing is watching the person die inf front of you. So Sasukes kill was more detached, but seeing a charred corpse like that still enlisted a response, just not as much as Hinata's. as for Kakashi not comforting Hinata, that will happen later on, but at the moment I think he felt that someone closer to Hinata then him (IE: the person she loves) would be better to help her deal with the immediate problems and he could help her get past it that night.


	9. Zabuza Attacks

**AN:** sorry about the late update, I recently got a new computer last week, but I missed a part and didn't get it in until yesterday, so I haven't been able to work on this chapter at all in the mean time.

* * *

**Forest: Nightfall**:

* * *

"It's time to stop and set up camp for the night, Naruto, go into the forest and collect firewood, Sasuke, go catch dinner, me and Hinata will set up camp over there in the trees to help avoid detection." Ordered Kakashi as he headed over to the area he pointed out. Grumbling Naruto and Sasuke headed out into the forest to complete their assigned jobs. While Hinata was removing her tent from the sealing scroll, one of Naruto's birthdays presents to her. With a sigh Hinata remembers that day

* * *

**Flashback: December 27****th****:**

* * *

Hinata groaned silently as she was forced to endure yet another Hyuga birthday celebration. It's not called a party because that's too much of a 'commoner's term' as only 'riffraff and rabble have parties.' Civilized people like the Hyuga clan have celebrations. Not that in the eyes of the clan there was anything to celebrate, despite Hinata showing more promise than before, since her graduation, she is not what the Hyuga clan elders consider a 'good clan hair' is like. She's still too weak, in their eyes, she stutters, displaying her fear, plays with her fingers in a disgraceful manner, and treats the branch family members like they are her equals. If the clan elders could they would have her branded right there and then. Luckily for Hinata they can't do that until her sixteenth birthday, when she must prove her right to lead the clan, if she fails to impress them then they can brand her with the caged bird seal. So all in all, birthdays for Hinata suck. This is one of the reasons she connects with Naruto so much, while on her birthdays she is only ignored and treated like a failure, Naruto is beaten if he steps outside. Even so, she can find a bond in their sharing of terrible birthdays.

This year however was different, this year Naruto was on her team, this year Naruto knew it was her birthday.

Right in the middle of another lecture about how 'weak' she is and how she is 'unfit to lead the clan' a messenger from the hokage arrives.

"Lord Hiashi, I am sorry to interrupt your eldest daughter's birthday, however, the hokage has an important mission for her and her team, as such she is required to accompany me back to the hokage's tower to meet with her team. " the messenger informed Hinata's father.

"Very well then, Hinata, you may leave, try not to be a burden to your team." With that Hiashi turns his back on her and walks away.

* * *

**Hokage tower: 5 minutes later**:

* * *

As Hinata walked into the hokage's office she notices that the lights are out and there doesn't appear to be anyone there "hello? Hokage-sama? Are you here?" just as she is about to turn around the lights snap on and team seven, Iruka, and the elderly hokage jump out into sight, at the same time a big banner drops down over the window at the front of the room saying 'Happy Birthday Hinata'

Hinata lets out a gasp and faints; just before she hits the ground Kakashi catches her "well, that wasn't unexpected" Kakashi said plainly, Naruto on the other hand was a little upset

"But, we did all that and she faints" said Naruto before pouting.

"Don't worry Naruto, maybe she was just so surprised by your surprise party that she fainted" comforted the elderly hokage, beaming at him brightly Naruto replies

"Thanks old man, you're probably right, hay look she's waking up" true to Naruto's word Hinata was indeed awaking in Kakashi's arms

"w-what's g-going o-on?" stuttered out a shocked Hinata.

"It's your birthday party!" yelled an excited Naruto, deciding to step in the elderly kage told Hinata the story of how this happened

"Hinata-san, a couple days ago Naruto came to see me about your birthday, when he found out you would spend the entire day in the Hyuga clan compound in what he called 'a boring meeting of stuck up jerks' we came to an...Arrangement" at this the Sandiame smiled at Naruto while Naruto hung his head.

"I would set up this party, and get you out of the Hyuga celebration for the rest of the day, in return for a favour. Well, what are you all waiting for, go, be young, and party. Hinata, remember each birthday only happens once, enjoy it as much as you can"

With that Team seven and Iruka left for Ramen and cake at Ichiraku ramen

* * *

**Ichiraku ramen: 20 minutes later**

* * *

After the cake was done Naruto pulled Hinata off to the side of the bar "um, Hinata?" looking his feet while blushing at close contact Hinata said

"Yes Naruto-kun?"

"I. I made you this for your birthday, I hope you like it" with that Naruto handed Hinata a standard Jacket sized scroll (AN: like the one Kakashi keeps in his flak jacket) when she opened it she was in for a big surprise. A Twenty slot sealing array was inside. This was special because while each slot could hold massive amounts of stuff, all of it would come out at once, so sorting sealed objects required multiple slots. As you increase the number of slots the complexity of creating the seal increases exponentially, and while there are seals with more slots, something like this would have taken a novice weeks of work. Now while Hinata doesn't know much about sealing she does know how hard it is to create something like this, having heard Naruto complain about it before. Stuttering massively Hinata managed to say

"t-th-thank-yo-you-na-naru-Naruto-kun" all the while glowing red.

Smiling at her Naruto said "no problem Hinata-Chan, next time I'll make sure to make you something even better, well let's get back to the party, don't want to miss out on more ramen?"

With that Naruto ran back to the rest of the party while Hinata slowly wondered over still in a slight daze over Naruto's gift

* * *

**End flashback:**

* * *

Just as Hinata finishes setting up her tent Kakashi comes over "Hinata, I need to talk to you about what happened earlier." Having got Hinata's attention Kakashi continued "while you normally wouldn't make your first kill on your first C-ranked mission, and then the mission would be so low ranked that worries about it couldn't adversely affect the mission as any jonin can handle a C-rank and look after an entire squad of genin, meaning this could wait until a qualified psychotherapist. The problem is this mission is probably an A-rank, and I can't afford to have to worry about you freezing up in battle because of you killing that nukenin before. I need to know you're up to this. Your reaction was extremely severe"

Nodding softly Hinata replied "I'm sorry, it's just, I killed, I killed him without even thinking about it, I just did it. I thought I must be some kind of monster, only a monster could kill someone without even thinking about it and not even feel anything. But then, Naruto-kun came over, he told me how I saved the bridge builders life, my own life, how that because I was sad and worried about killing that man, that I wasn't a monster, that I was one of his best friends so I couldn't be a monster" Hinata said in a soft and yet at the same time strong voice, tears rolling down her cheeks as she started crying part way through.

Looking down at Hinata Kakashi said "there's nothing to worry about Hinata, every ninja goes through that, expect the true monsters and psychos. In fact jonin-sensei are under strict orders that if a student displays little or no regard for killing someone to report it the second they get back and have the student put through a full psyche test. Even I feel the same way every time I kill someone, and I have been doing it since I was six. It will hurt a little less over time, but the pain from killing never goes away. Different people deal with it in different ways, Gai, a friend of mine, he does crazy training and rants about the power of youth to distract himself. Itachi, he use to eat a box of pocky every hour, the Uchiha's probably tried to take his pocky away," at that both Hinata and Kakashi let out a small laugh "you need to find something that works for you, just try and pick something that's not dangerous, many resort to drinking, which I don't recommend, while you forget for the night its worse the next day."

With that they set about finishing setting up camp

* * *

**The next day: In wave:**

* * *

A loud 'thud' rang out across the clearing team seven was in, as a Kunai thrown by Naruto impacts with a tree. At the same time Hinata jumped at the sudden noise. Walking over and pushing the bush aside instead of the expected enemy Nin is a white rabbit pinned to the tree by the scruff of its neck. Sasuke tauntingly yelled out to Naruto

"Great job Dobe, managed to scare both Hinata and a rabbit half to death." Turning around Naruto growls at Sasuke

"Teme, just because you can't hear anything moving in the forest, I can. There was someone here" speaking softly Hinata voiced her thoughts

"Ano... It's a white rabbit... its fur should be brown because winters over... only a rabbit raised inside would be white" just as Hinata finished her sentence Kakashi yelled out

"DUCK!" while grabbing the bridge builder and pulling him down. A mere second later a Zanbatou (AN: see AN at bottom) comes flying through the air and imbeds itself into a nearby tree. Then a Ninja dropped down on it

"Zabuza of the Hidden mist, A-class nukenin, what a surprise to see you here" said Kakashi when he recognized the Nin on the sword

"Sharingan Kakashi, now I know why the demon brothers lost, but you wouldn't kill Nin like them so why?" asked a curious Zabuza

"That, well, it wasn't me who fought them, was my students here, Sasuke and Hinata." Said Kakashi smirking about his students abilities

'well, in that case I can't assume they are weaklings, this is bad, if I can't win this battle I'll have to have Haku find some help, I'm not sure how good the copy-cats students are, but with him as their teacher they are probably strong' not letting his lack of confidence show Zabuza said "so those two brats took down the demon brothers then, I guess you lucked out then, getting two strong brats, but that kid in orange looks like he shouldn't be allowed near a kunai, let alone a real ninja"

Smirking Kakashi said "Naruto? He's the strongest of the tree; he has even more chakra then me." At this Zabuza paled inside

'damn, I think I'll defiantly need help, I doubt I can beat Kakashi and these three brats, I better try and do as much damage as I can before having Haku pull me out and then get some aid.' Still maintaining his air of confidence Zabuza said "well then, I guess the rumours of your strength were greatly exaggerated" with that Zabuza disappeared as the mist began to roll in, only to reappear in the middle of the lake.

'he's gathering a large amount of chakra, probably for the Kiri Gakure no Jutsu, well then' a large mist starts growing from where Zabuza is standing, Kakashi starts flying through handseals, when the mist reaches the shore Kakashi finishes before sucking in a deep breath, following by breathing out heavily 'Futon: Daitoppa' and a massive blast of wind is released, blowing away all of the mist. Snarling Zabuza rushes towards Kakashi, when he reaches the shore he jumps up to the tree and rips his sword, Kubikiri Houcho, from the tree before swinging it sideways at Kakashi. Diving out of the way Kakashi quickly spins and tosses at the spot where Zabuza's leg will be when he reaches the ground. Zabuza counters this by holding that leg up, falling right into Kakashi's trap the second Zabuza hits the ground Kakashi is attacking him with two special kunai he had made, just for occasions like this, where he had to fight a sword user. Forcing the off balanced Zabuza back Kakashi goes for a sweeping kick but is promptly stopped when Zabuza slams his sword down, missing Kakashi's leg by inches.

As this continued the three genin could only look on with shock, while all three had sparred with Kakashi they had no idea just how powerful a jonin of Kakashi's standing actually was. It was definitely unsettling, and completely destroyed any arrogance they had been gathering from the hard training and rapid growth under Kakashi's tutelage.

Zabuza smirked seeing an opening his swung his sword downwards at Kakashi, cutting right through his kunai, but instead of the squelch of cutting flesh, or the dying scream of the legendary nin, all he got was a loud pop as Kakashi went up in smoke. Sensing danger Zabuza strafed left just in time to dodge deadly twin strikes to both centre of the spinal Colum and the heart. Realizing he doesn't have much hope of a close range battle Zabuza retreats out onto the lake, followed by running through a large sequence of hand signs. Recognizing the hand signs for Suton: Suiryudan no Jutsu, Kakashi flashes through the hand signs for the Jutsu, skipping many so that his dragon comes out at the same time as Zabuza's, while Kakashi's was weaker it did manage to slow down Zabuza's dragon so it fell harmlessly into the water, during the struggle between the two dragons Kakashi's right hand flicked to his headband, raising it to reveal the Sharingan. As Zabuza starts the handseals for Suton: Daibakufu Kakashi mirrors them perfectly. As they finish two walls rise up on the lake, crashing into each other, flooding the surrounding area. This forces the three young genin to grab Tazuna and drag him up into the trees.

Just as Zabuza is about to try something else he feels a hand grab him from underneath, at the same time he hears the water muffled words "Raiton: Shokku" with that the area surrounding Zabuza and whatever grabbed him is bathed in lightning as both the user and the recipient are shocked heavily. This leaves a wildly convulsing Zabuza sinking into the water as his muscles are randomly contracting and expanding to the electricity that filled his body from the shock. At the same time a pop is heard, from a Kakashi Shadow clone that had slowly swum underneath the missing Nin. Just as Zabuza is fully submerged two senbon needles fly towards where his neck should be. Looking at where Zabuza is Team seven sees a child, no older than 15 appear, wearing a hunter-nin mask "thanks for helping me, I've been tracking him for weeks waiting for the opportunity to strike. Now excuse me" with that last sentence the Hunter-nin grabs Zabuza's 'corpse' and flickers away with him.

Cursing Kakashi turns to his students "Zabuza's alive." With that all three and Tazuna gasp

"WH-what d-do you me-an ka-kashi-sensei" stutters the shy Hinata

"Hunter-nin always dispose of the body on site, that way there is no chance of them missing anything. Plus the only way a Senbon will kill you is if it hits a vital organ. There are no vital organs for senbon to hit in the neck, but there are pressure points that can be used to induce a fake death." Seeing his students worried looks about Zabuza and this 'hunter-nin' returning Kakashi says "don't worry about them, a fake death requires at least 4 days to recover from, plus the damage to his muscles and nervous system from my lightning attack should keep him down for at least a week, probably more"

Sighing his students walk over to his ready to leave. Just then Kakashi sways a bit before quickly pulling down his headband. Worried Hinata asks "what's wrong Kakashi-sensei?"

Giving Hinata an eye smile Kakashi says "nothing, just used my Sharingan for a while, plus those Jutsu, I'm just running a little low on chakra"

Hinata meekly asks "Ano...Kakashi-sensei, why do you only have the Sharingan in one eye? Don't ninjas normally have doujutsu in both eyes? I know Naruto-kun has it in both eyes, and what did you say about using it too long, I've seen Naruto hold it for hours." Kakashi's eye smile vanishes as he says

"It's because, it's not my Sharingan. It's a transplant from a friend who died on a mission with me, he unlocked his Sharingan on that mission, and I lost my eye. In his final moments, as he was dying he begged our team medic to implant it into me. Because it's not mine I can never turn it off, and it is a constant chakra drain equal to that of most A-ranked Jutsu. That's why I keep it behind my forehead protector to minimize the drain." With that team seven heads off to Tazuna house

* * *

**AN:**

Yo, sorry for the marginally late update and slight shortness (2.9k words vs. my normal 3k +) but as the top AN said I haven't had computer access till yesterday. On the bright side there was a fight scene. Plus below I put how chakra will work in this story; while it's not quite how I think chakra works it's how it works best for this story.

that ramen thing at the begining was a completly on the spot no planning what so ever made up event, tell me what you think.

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**Zanbatou**:

A Large sword, said to be used to kill horse and rider by slicing straight through them both, as far as I know this sword was generally used as a sign of the skill of the swords smith and rarely used in combat. Unlike Zabuza's sword and most Zanbatous in fiction, real ones with thin, like katanas, while in fiction they are depicted as been more of a large rectangle, like Zabuza's

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**Chakra:**

* * *

Chakra is Consists of both Mental and Physical energies. Chakra is made up of groups of different types of chakra. In Normal Shinobi there are at least two types of chakra, normal or 'pure' chakra. This chakra has no affinity with any element at all and can be used equally for all; it is best used in non elemental Jutsu as elemental chakra can have an effect on the Jutsu. This is why Elemental chakra manipulation is not taught to people below high Chunin, because unless you are able to separate your chakras when performing a Jutsu you will get mixed results. Jutsu that match your element will be stronger, Jutsu not matching will be weaker, and non elemental Jutsu could have unintended effects. For most Shinobi under the level at which elemental manipulation is taught this is not a problem as the quantity of elemental chakra is generally quite low, less than 1, so it doesn't affect your Jutsu. That is what the second manipulation step is for, increasing your elemental chakra mixture, an average Shinobi's chakra will break down as 60 pure chakra, 20 Primary affinity, 10 secondary affinity. This changes for people with bloodlines that involve elements, or Jinchuriki.

Using elemental chakra in Jutsu involves separating the chakra from your normal chakra so that the mixture of elemental chakra and normal chakra is much higher. This is what the first and third elemental training techniques are for. The first teaches the user how to find their elemental chakra, separate it and use it to affect the leaf; the second involves increasing the user's elemental chakra. The third requires the user to completely separate their elemental chakra, so that when used it is 100 elemental chakra with no pure or other chakra mixed in, that is why it is so difficult and why it is reserved for sealers as seals is the only field that requires pure elemental chakra.

Chakra affinities in most cases come from two sources. Your primary affinity comes from the mental aspect of the chakra. When everyone is born they develop an affinity with an elemental that best fits who they are/will be. How this happens no one is quite sure, but no matter the personality changes in the user there is always elementals of their elements nature mixed in. This is why everyone has a primary affinity, it's the affinity their mind identifies with the most. The secondary affinity comes from the physical aspect of chakra. Each time a ninja uses pure chakra in an elemental Jutsu they have to forcefully convert the chakra into the element, this why it takes more pure then elemental chakra, as it has to be converted. The more the user converts chakra into one element the more their body begins to develop a feel for that element. Over time the cost for converting to that element slowly decreases by at most 15. This change in the body causes a change in the chakra energies, resulting in a secondary affinity. If a nin happens to use a lot of different elemental Jutsu then the body will not develop that affinity and after around ten years of chakra use the body will have adapted so it is cheaper to adapt pure chakra to any element (7 less then it started at) but will have lost the ability to gain a second affinity.

The strength of the Primary affinity is determined by jut how close ones personally matches the nature of the element, while the secondary affinity's strength is determined by how much the user uses that element and how much they use other elemental Jutsu.

* * *

The above is the basis for which chakra will be explained in the story. To those of you wondering the cause of , Naruto's, Hinata's and Sasuke's elemental strengths can be worked out using content that is already in the story, this chakra explanation would also help, but is not required.


	10. Not a good day

**Tazuna's house:**

* * *

As team seven arrived at Tazuna's house they were greeted by a worried women "Father your ok?" she yelled as she saw Tazuna.

Smiling kindly at her he said "I'm home Tsunami, and these are the ninjas I brought to protect me"

Returning his smile the newly dubbed Tsunami said "well then, you'd all better come inside, I'm sure your all tired from your long trip, I'll start cooking then."

Nodding his head Kakashi said "thank you for your generosity." Receiving a warm smile in return Tsunami said

"No problem at all, your here to keep my father safe and save our country, the least I can do is give you a nice home cooked meal"

Once they entered the house Naruto looked around and asked Tazuna, "Are they any spare rooms we could borrow?"

Nodding Tazuna lead them upstairs "these two rooms here are out guest rooms." Nodding Kakashi turned to his students

"Well, since they only fit two each, me and Sasuke will take this one and Naruto and Hinata you can take the other." Hinata blushed at the idea of sleeping in the same room as Naruto.

After putting their gear in their rooms they headed downstairs for the food Tsunami, after saying Itatakimasu they dug into their food. With Naruto and Sasuke eating at an insane pace, while Hinata ate with a more respectable speed, in a manner that is befitting a Hyuga. Kakashi, he popped his mask down for less than a second before devouring all his food and pulling the mask back up so fast no one ever saw his face. Just as he finished pulling up his mask he struck him. He knew what to train his students in. Smirking under his mask Kakashi said "Starting tomorrow you three are going to be training to fight Zabuza and his fake hunter Nin." Kakashi's smirk widened as he saw his three students shiver at the mention of training.

* * *

**A clearing in the forest: The next day:**

* * *

"Ok listen up, Naruto, you are going to finish your elemental control exercises, use a maximum of ten kage bunshin to help." At this Hinata spoke up

"A-ano? How does Kage bunshin, h-help you train?" smirking Kakashi replied

"Well everything a Kage bunshin learns is returned to its master when it is destroyed or dispelled. And before you ask about Naruto using more than ten clones to train. The Kage bunshin is a Kinjutsu for two reasons. The first is the massive chakra drain, if you're not careful you could die from chakra exhaustion just by creating one Kage bunshin. The second reason is mental strain. The brain is only designed to handle one set of memories for a time frame. If you summon too many clones it can't handle the strain of all the extra memories and you die. Naruto can use thousands of shadow clones in combat as the memories are nearly identical, so the brain doesn't have much of a problem with near duplicate memories. But with training, since every set of memories is unique and different, it strains the brain, even with Naruto's impressive healing abilities he would only be able to handle around ten sets of memories before permanent brain damage."

Gasping at the risk Naruto is in every time he uses his favourite Jutsu Hinata turns to Naruto, who just smiles and says "it's worth the risk to protect my friends." Is all Naruto says before forming the clones and getting to work.

With Naruto working Kakashi turns to Sasuke "you will be with me at the bridge guarding Tazuna, while we are there we will work on unlocking your Sharingan, it will be helpful in the upcoming battle."

Finally looking at Hinata Kakashi says "while you are now quite well versed in the art of Juken, you are not skilled in areas other than your clan Hijutsu. As such you will be learning the water techniques from the scroll." Tossing the scroll to Hinata Kakashi says "start at the top and work your way down" before grabbing Sasuke and disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Giving a slight sigh at only having a scroll to learn from Hinata picks up the scroll and starts training in the first Jutsu, a C-rank called Suiton: Teppodama

* * *

**Tsunamis house: 4 days later:**

* * *

Team seven was sitting around the table eating their dinner in the usual manner, when all of a sudden a loud bang is heard as the table shakes, looking to the source of the bang they see little Inari has his hands on the table like he slammed them down and his head hung "Why do you even bother, your all going to die" he yelled at the playful ninja. 'How can they be so happy when they are facing Gato, no one can beat Gato, they will die'

Naruto just smirked and said "nu-ah, were going to kick their butts"

Yelling again Inari said "No you're not, you can't beat Gato, you don't even know what suffering is..." all of a sudden the boy is frozen still as an intense burst of killing intent is unleased.

"I don't know what suffering is? I grew up on the streets; alone, both my parents dead the day I was born and my village hated me for my very existence! The very first word I learnt was not mother, or father, it was help! So that someone could save me from being nearly being beaten to death, again! I lost count of the number of times people tried to kill me, especially on my birthday, on my birthday they would hunt me across town the entire day until I collapsed from exhaustion before beating and stabbing me! The only reason I'm alive is thanks to my ANBU guards, one of whom adopted me, that was my first happy memory. 5 years and only one happy memory! You're the one who doesn't know what suffering is, You still have your mother and grandfather, you are not constantly hunted, treated as worse than rapist and murders!" with that Naruto walked out the door, slamming it so hard behind him it nearly came off its hinges.

Looking at Kakashi, Tazuna asked "his life wasn't that bad was it?"

Shaking his head Kakashi said "No...It was much worse, that's only what he can remember. His first assignation attempt was when he was around 3 hours old."

Gasping Tsunami and Tazuna realized just how lucky their little Inari truly was.

* * *

**The next day: A clearing in the forest:**

* * *

Naruto lay asleep on the ground, having train himself to exhaustion after losing his cool at Inari. 'Stupid little runt, doesn't even know what suffering is.' Unknown to the sleeping Naruto a person with long hair and a pink Kimono with flowers on it approached senbon in hand. When they reached Naruto they swung their hand down, planning to stab the senbon into Naruto's eye. Just before the senbon could reach Naruto's eye the person saw him shifting, his eyes starting to open. Quickly flicking the senbon into the inside of the kimono sleeve the person looks down and says "you shouldn't sleep outside, you could catch a cold"

Naruto opening his eyes saw one of the most beautiful women he has ever seen, wearing a smile that practically radiated warmth. Smiling at her Naruto said "Don't worry, I don't get sick."

Returning his smile the women asks "So what are you doing here?"

Sitting up and scratching the back of his head sheepishly Naruto replies "um... I kinda fell asleep training"

Looking at him, not even showing a flicker of an emotion other then caring on her face she asks "so you're a ninja then?"

Nodding Naruto says "yep, see my headband right here" as he points to the headband on his forehead. "That reminds me, what's your name and what are you doing out here?"

At that her right hand twitched slightly, something Naruto did not miss, and she said "My names Haku, and I'm picking herbs for my friend, he hurt himself."

Nodding Naruto said "can I help" getting a nod in response the two went off to pick some herbs. With Naruto actually noticing some good herbs that Haku would have otherwise missed.

"Well, I best be going, cya" said Haku before heading away and saying "by the way, I'm a boy"

Smiling Naruto said "Say high to Zabuza for me" and with that he disappeared before a senbon imbedded itself into a tree in front of where Naruto was standing.

* * *

**Morning the next day: Tazuna's house:**

* * *

Naruto was rudely awoken by the sound of shouting. Heading downstairs he saw Tsunami being kidnapped by two samurai, just as Inari charged them with a butchers knife Naruto appeared behind the one holding Tsunami, knocking him out with a chop to the neck. The Samurai fall to the ground with thud, turning around the other samurai saw that some little blond kid had downed his partner, in a blind attack he charged at Naruto. Shaking his head Naruto flickered behind him and also knocked him out with a chop to the neck.

Quickly tying them up Naruto said "you did good trying to save your mom, now stay here and watch her for me" before flickering out the door towards the bridge.

* * *

**The same time: The Bridge:**

* * *

As Kakashi, Hinata, Sasuke and Tazuna approached the bridge they saw the bodies of the workers littering the ground and a laughing noise. Turning to the noise they saw Zabuza with his Zanbato coated red in blood standing next to the fake hunter Nin and two other nins.

"Seems you lost a brat Kakashi" smirked Zabuza, pissed that he had lost the first battle.

Retorting Kakashi said "and I see you're so pathetic you picked up more aid to help you"

Growling Zabuza said "Oh, I plan to kill you myself, but my two friends here will slaughter your little brats. You already know Haku; now meet Sato Daito and Kato Daiki." Gesturing to the two Shinobi, the first was five and a half feet tall, but quite skinny. Wearing a dark blue shirt and black plants with a bluish green coloured sword sheafed on his back. While the second Shinobi was a sickly pale white with a picture of a wave on his forehead, wearing dark blue shirt and pants, he had a pair of blacked out goggles on his forehead. Putting his hands in a seal ten Mizu bunshin surround team seven, yet before they can move they are all dispersed and Sasuke is standing there Kunai and hand and eyes red with the Sharingan.

Smirking Zabuza says "I see you got the last Uchiha, too bad he dies here. Haku, take the Uchiha, Daito kill the Hyuga brat. Daiki, the bridge builder is yo..." Zabuza was interrupted when he felt chakra underneath him and as he dived out the way he saw a stream of lightning shoot up from the bridge where he was standing seconds ago. Frowning slightly Zabuza says "Daiki, looks like you get the blond brat, be careful." At this Daiki just grunted

"I am the Demon that dwells within the bloody mist. The bringer of death, some brat won't stop me." just then he was shot into the air as a jet of wind appeared out of the ground.

When Zabuza shouting "Kirigakure no Jutsu" the bridge was instantly surrounded in mist. Knowing that he can't blow away the mist now that's here Kakashi doesn't waste chakra on a wind Jutsu.

* * *

**With Sasuke:**

* * *

Sasuke stood 2 meters away from the masked Nin, both of them glared coldly at each other. An eternal stare down between two foes of great power. Then in a split second the silence of broken by the sound of kunai hitting senbon. Letting go of the senbon Haku grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the kunai. Smirking Sasuke said "seems like we're even."

With the mask not portraying any emotion Haku said "No we are not. First we are surrounded by water, and second, I can use one handed seals. With the spare hand Haku started flashing through seals. With a soft breath of "Sensatsu Suisho" the water rose into the air and formed into a thousand ice senbon. As they came flying towards him Sasuke channelled chakra to his legs and jumped high into the air, out of the way of the needles.

Only to land right in Haku's trap. As the temperature of the air suddenly dropped Sasuke looked around to see the water around him rising to form ice mirrors. Suddenly a voice sounded out all around him "Makyo Hyo satsu"

* * *

**With Hinata:**

* * *

"You are a lucky whore!" spat the young mist nuke Nin. Smirking at the gasp he received he continued. "I can tell from here you have a Kekkai Genkai, Konoha just loves their little Kekkai Genkai don't they? I bet your bedding that Uchiha brat for his Sharingan."

At this strange mans taunts Hinata felt a deep rage building. 'I'd never betray Naruto, even if he doesn't love me yet he will!" not realizing how sore a spot he had reached by saying that she was with the Uchiha Daito charged, sword drawn, just as he was three feet away from her Hinata let out a cry of rage. Grabbing a kunai she tried to block his strike but his sword just sliced right through her kunai and sliced along her hand. Jumping back he smirked

"Today you will die whore!" Daito yelled as he swung his sword. With the swing of his sword all the water in front of him rose off the ground and flew at Hinata, in the shape of a giant curved blade paper thick.

* * *

**With Naruto:**

* * *

Daiki was getting irritated by this blond brat. Whenever he would get close to where he thought he was a sudden gust of wind would blow him away, and if he stopped for even a second the ground underneath him would charge with lightning, and he would have only half a second to get out of the field before everything inside was cooked by the lightning. His clothes hung on him in tatters, the wind slicing right through them and the near misses with lightning scorching them. 'if it wasn't for my hard skin thanks to _him_ I would be either dead or bleeding to death from those wind blades he's using to deflect me.' seeing as he was making no progress so far and knowing that Zabuza wanted this brat dead now, Daiki decided it was time. the mist in a ten meter circle around Daiki was blown away as the air started to spin around him. The loose rocks and debris on the ground started rising, as a tower of malicious chakra started to leak from his skin.

Naruto shivered, and then swore. "Damn, that feels, that feels just like... is he...?" Realizing that his long distance seal arrays wouldn't help him right now Naruto stood up and summoned ten Kage bunshin. "Ok guys you know what to do" with that command the ten Kage bunshin disappeared into the mist.

Just as the last one phased from sight Daiki appeared next to Naruto in a blur. He was surrounded by a greenish blue chakra cloak with one waving tail behind him. Growling Daiki swung his hand and all the water surrounded Naruto shot into the air and spun like an inverted buzz saw before striking, completly engulfing where Naruto was standing. As the water saw dropped to the ground there was no body. Just water. Disappearing in a blur Daiki appeared in front of Naruto's new hiding place.

'This won't go well' thought Naruto before dodging to the side as more water tried to slice him to ribbons.

* * *

**With Kakashi:**

* * *

Zabuza smirked "I hope you weren't too attached to those brats, cus with the three they are facing their dead."

Returning the smirk Kakashi countered "I don't know, Hinata is the Heiress of the Hyuga clan, Sasuke the sole surviving Uchiha and Naruto, well he's very special"

Zabuza's smirk not waving a bit replied "Ah, but Haku is stronger then me, her Kekkai Genkai is deadly, Daito, the also last survivor of his clan, with a Kekkai Genkai just as strong as Haku's, then there's Daiki…He's the mists very own Jinchuriki.

Hearing this Kakashi froze 'damn, Naruto's up against another Jinchuriki, this wont end well' to compound the problem at that very second they felt waves of malicious chakra wash over the bridge

Smirking Zabuza said "well, that orange brats dead now" just as he said that Naruto appeared in front of them panted, and disappeared again as a buzz saw made of water sliced through where he was standing.

Smirking again kakashi said "Doesn't seem dead to me" forgetting that he was using the mist to silently kill kakashi in his anger over that orange brat surviving his Jinchuriki Zabuza charged in and made a strong vertical slash with his sword. Slicing a through Kakashi's flak jacket and a good inch into his chest as kakashi tried to jump away, Zabuza ripped the Zanbato back before remembering his plan and fading back to the mist.

* * *

**With Naruto**

* * *

Panting Naruto thought 'damn I'm getting tired from running so much, I need to trap him. That's it.' Thought Naruto as the memories from the Kage bunshin that he had forgotten about reached him. 'It's ready'

As the buzz saw came for him again Naruto slowly retreated towards the centre of the bridge. The buzz saw came flying at him, flipping through hand seals Naruto called "Katon: Ryuu no kaen" as a small blue fireball shot from his mouth. The difference between normal fire and dragons fire is that dragon's fire is many times hotter, so hot that the light emitted is blue shifted. This technique is highly uncommon however as very rarely is fire this hot needed, along with the ten times higher chakra drain then normal flame and can at best get to one quarter the size before exploding. But right now, against this water buzz saw, the blue flame worked perfectly. The second they collided they both went up in a cloud of steam.

Just then an enraged Daiki came out of the mist, one tail waving violently behind him with a second starting to form. Diving animalisticlly at Naruto, Naruto quickly dodged out the way. The second Daiki hit the ground Naruto activated the sea. The seal he was in the middle of. It was a combination of a eight point containment seal, a 5 point suppression seal and a lethal level shock seal. The second it activated a blue chakra barrier surrounded Daiki, in his rage his tried banging against it, burning himself as he tried. Just then the suppression seal kicked in and the nearly three quarters formed second tail faded away as the youkai started fading. Finally the shock seal activated sending a lethal does of lightning chakra through Daiki's body.

Naruto looked at the boy he had just killed, and dropped to his knees. He had just killed someone just like him, but it was clear what ever humanity he had was eaten away by the monster inside. There was no hope of saving him, especially as the seal appeared ready to break.

Unbeknownst to Naruto Daiki was a very spiteful person. As he was dieing he entered the seal. Going up to the door that always held back the Sanbi he inserted the key he had always carried and opened the door. Releasing the seal. And the Sanbi.

Just as Naruto stood up to go aid his friends the malicious chakra of the Sanbi washed over the bridge. Turning around slowly Naruto saw a light rising from Daiki's body. The light slowly grew. And grew. And grew, until it formed the shape of a gigantic three tailed turtle. Staring right at the person who nearly fated it to death the Sanbi let out a primal roar as it swung all three of its tails down in attempt to squash Naruto.

* * *

**The Bridge:**

* * *

The entire bridge was in chaos, everyone stopped fighting when they felt the presence of the Sanbi. The presence of the great turtle blowing away the mist to reveal the entire bridge. Sasuke standing still inside Haku's ice mirrors, covered in senbon with red Sharingan eyes but alive. Hinata with deep cuts leaking blood all over hear body while Daito was standing a few meters away where he had been laughing at the weak girls pathetic attempts to protect herself with something called 'Kaiten' which had just made his water blades stronger. Kakashi standing with blood dripping out the front of his chest from Zabuza's sword wound, and Naruto, about to be squashed by the tails of a gigantic demon turtle.

Today was really not a good day for team seven

* * *

**AN: **

Sorry for the late chapter and short (3.5k) but I'v been busy this week so I havn't had a chance to work on it, with a bunch of assignment due days. As for the shortness, well I felt now was the perfect place to cut off.


	11. Fun with Biju

**The Bridge:**

* * *

The entire bridge was engulfed in chaos. Naruto, desperately dodging the massive blows from the Sanbi's tails, his only advantage is that while really big, the Sanbi is quite slow. Hinata, making a feeble attempt to stand to defend herself so she could help Naruto yet failing from the injuries and blood loss. Sasuke slowly making the handseals for the great fireball Jutsu, but his slow speed from Haku's crippling shots made it impossible to finish the handseals before having to dodge more of Haku's crippling senbon. Kakashi, having planned on letting Zabuza hit him so he could track him through the blood on his sword was now regretting it, the wound was bleeding too much, any minute now blood loss would set in and he would die.

* * *

**With Kakashi**

* * *

'Damn, I've lost too much blood, I'm not sure if I can even win this fight, but I need to so my students can escape the demon. I guess this will be my final battle, at least I'll die fighting.' With that grim thought Kakashi pulled a scroll from his pocket, where he would normally open it in some extravagant spiral, he was too weak right now, so instead Kakashi settled for just flicking it open, before whipping one of his bloodied fingers along it and slamming it into the ground. "**Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu**" with the completion of the Jutsu eight bumps race from the point of contact with the ground, heading straight for Zabuza.

Zabuza smirked, "Seems your pathetic little Jutsu failed" unaware of the now unnoticeable lumps in the ground racing towards him

Smirking right back Kakashi said "It seems you need to learn one of my favourite lesions, to look under the underneath"

Preparing to jump away Zabuza yells "What the hell do..." whatever else he was going to say was cut off by his screams, as eight ninken jump from the ground around him, latching on. The second all eight of the ninken have latched on Zabuza stops screaming. He understands now. He is dead. 'This is the end. I can't move, even if I could from these injuries I'll probably never move my arms again. Guess this is the end.' Sighing Zabuza as he was about to try one last ditch effort at taking Kakashi with him was interrupted by Kakashi's voice

"Now, while I'd love to stay and chat, or finish you off with some fancy Jutsu, but I just don't have to the time, shred him" with that last command all eight ninken bite harder before tearing their heads away from Zabuza's body. The force of the eight ninken is enough to rip Zabuza's left arm right off, both his legs, large portions of his torso, and cause enough strain to his neck to half separate it from his body. The end result, a very dead Zabuza. Leaving the ninken to deal with Zabuza's remains, expect for the head, they always leave the head. Kakashi realizes that he has no time to wait for his wound to be healed, either with chakra or naturally.

Sighing Kakashi thinks to himself 'damn this will hurt.' Taking a hoketsugan Kakashi flashing through some hand seals before holding out his right hand. Lightning nature chakra begins to fill his hand, grimacing as he prepares for the pain Kakashi runs the lightning contained in his right hand straight down the wound, cauterizing it. Collapsing onto his knees Kakashi pants swearing loudly "Damn that hurts, and it's going to leave a nasty scar." Standing up Kakashi looks over to his students.

* * *

**With Hinata**

* * *

After finally managing to rise to her feet Hinata receives a cruel glare from Daito, just as she reactivates her Byakugan, it having shut down while she was on the ground, Daito starts verbally abusing her again

"You pathetic weak little Hyuga whore. Why do you bother getting up, all it does is delay your eventual death." Feeling a deeply suppressed rage start to boil within her Hinata returns Daito's glare and questions him

"Why do you treat me like this, we are enemies but this is not way to treat even your enemies" what Hinata did not expect was laughter, rage, swearing, hatred, another attack, but no laughter.

"You want to know why you pathetic little whore. I'll tell you why. While you get to sit at home in your great big clan mansion, I sit in the gutters, clinging to the last fragments of my life. While you are surrounded by a loving clan, I am alone, having watched my clan slaughtered before my eyes by our own comrades. While you worry about who you'll whore yourself off to, I was sterilized to prevent my 'taint' from spreading. And do you know why? All because of our Kekkai Genkai. You lucky little whore get to play princess while I, Daito, Heir of the great and noble Sato clan, live in gutters with no family, past or future. The only reason I'm alive is because Zabuza took pity on me and decided I'd be a useful tool to him."

This shocked Hinata, of course she knew of the Kekkai Genkai 'cleansings' of the mist, but, to actually meet someone who had gone through that, no wonder he hated her, she had everything and he had nothing, and it was for the same reason, they had Kekkai Genkai. Despite this, the feeling of sorrow for him could not surpass the rage that had been building. Twelve years of surpassed anger was about to released, and Daito would have no idea what was going on.

Finally it happened. The dam holding back her anger broke. Hinata was no longer Hinata, now she was a Ninja, a Ninja in bloodlust. Now many people think they understand what bloodlust is, the desire to kill, maim, wound, to seek the blood of others. In a sense this is true, but bloodlust, true bloodlust is something more. It's when you give in to that dark temptation, the side of you that you hide from everyone, the dark side, the side where all your anger, rage, hatred and all other feelings considered negative reside. Most people think of bloodlust as a sign of a monster, it's not. It's a sigh of a human being. Everyone has those emotions, they are meant to protect you. Just as bloodlust is, when a person is at their lowest, when they have been beaten down, when they have no hope left, that's when bloodlust strikes, it takes over, with one goal, to protect the person. There's only one problem, Bloodlust is a primal part of us, left over from our early days, the only way it knows how to protect itself, is through the death of all around it.

The bloodlust consumed Hinata, raced towards Daito with a speed no one thought she had, one two three, Three powerful Jyuken strikes one to each of his shoulders and a third to the neck. Luckily for Daito he had started to react before the strikes, allowing him to push the bloodlust ninja away. Sadly that was where Daito's luck ended. Both his arms were paralysed, Hinata's Jyuken blow being powerful enough to affect the entire area, not just one point, completely shutting down all communication between the brain and his arms. Even worse, the neck strike had caught his chakra coils along the side of the jugular. Here Daito got lucky, instead of severing the artery it just nicked it, but he was still bleeding internally, losing the precious blood needed to keep his mind in the heightened state battles require.

Sadly Daito didn't have time to think about any of this, as the second Hinata hit the ground she sprung back at him, this time unable to defend himself Hinata scored the perfect shot. In the head there is a Tenketsu that is also known as the instant death point. It overlays the area where the cerebellum and the spinal Colum meet. The point is called the death zone, any decent sniper Nin will tell you, if you can hit there the opponent is dead right away. There are two access points, right between the eyes and from the back of the head. Generally the eyes are used as not only will the heavy senbon, or other sniping weapon, hit the instant death spot, even if it misses it will cause brain damage resulting in death. Medic nin have never determined whether it is the damage to the cerebellum or the severing of the spinal Colum at the point that is the actual cause of the instant death, but most ninja don't care.

Now while this may not seem very important for poor Daito it is. For if you strike this Tenketsu it achieves the same effect as if a physical weapon had penetrated the area. Instant death. This is exactly the point Hinata hit, tearing her fingers away from where they had just been, pressed to Daito's skull, right between his eyes. Hinata watched in sick joy as Daito's body crumpled to the ground dead. Pulling out a kunai, under the control of the bloodlust she was about to do what gives bloodlust its viscous name, make sure the threat is neutralized by tearing apart his body.

Just as the kunai was inches from his chest Hinata felt a pressure on her neck, before collapsing into darkness. Luckily for Hinata Kakashi had seen her about to mutilate the dead nukenin corpse. Realizing what had happened to her he flickered over to her and knocked her out with a chop to the neck

"Sorry Hinata, but this way you won't have to worry about having mutilating a body, even if it wasn't you." Turning his attention to Sasuke Kakashi summoned a Kage bunshin to look after Hinata before flickering away again.

* * *

**With Sasuke**

* * *

Sasuke was and very angry. the reason he was angry, well that was because right now he was covered in more needles then a porcupine, and was likely to die.

While Sasuke was distracted a barrage of senbon came flying at him, turning as he sensed danger Sasuke was looking face on with a deadly cloud of senbon coming for him. No hope for escape. He was dead. This brought many strange emotions to the turbulent boy. First was regret, regret he wouldn't know why his bother killed his clan, regret he couldn't restore his clan, and regret he couldn't spend more time with Naruto, Kakashi, even Hinata. Then came anger, anger that his goals weren't complete, anger he would never see his friends again, anger that he would die before he was ready. Finally the last emotion, sorrow, and sorrow he couldn't help his friends, sorrow he couldn't help this village, sorrow he would hurt his friends when he was gone. The very last emotion would change the world. For, as that last emotion, the sorrow about the pain he would cause his friends, the worry about his friends that caused something to snap. Something that no Uchiha had ever done. His eyes advanced, time seemed to slow down as a third tomoe appeared, but Sasuke knew it wasn't enough, but then time seemed to stop completely. The fourth tomoe appeared something no other Uchiha had ever done. Not his brother, not even the legendary Uchiha Madaara had achieved a fourth tomoe. Yet, Sasuke didn't know any of this. Yet.

With time seemingly froze Sasuke moved, while he moved in slow motion, barley able to move out the way of the senbon due to his slow speed, he moved. What he didn't know is that to everyone else he had gained a massive speed boost. Turning he saw Haku rise out of the crystal mirror millimetre by millimetre. Moving through handseals in what seemed like slow motion Sasuke took a deep breath and exhaled. A fireball flew towards the mist nukenin, who was completely surprised by this sudden turn of events. Feeling the heat of the fireball start to burn her Haku tired to retreat into the ice mirror but it collapsed. She was sent flying, landing on hard concrete, covered in burns. In a last act, a last ditched attempt to save Zabuza, who she didn't know was dead, she through a lone senbon at Sasuke, the last one needed to put him into a fake death.

Sasuke, completely drained from using the Sharingan at the fourth level couldn't move. Just as he saw the senbon fly towards his unmoveable body his vision went black. He couldn't see. What Sasuke didn't know was he had found the curse of the fourth tomoe, after using it the user would be blind for twice the time they used it for. Unable to see or move the senbon hit its target perfectly causing Sasuke to collapse to the ground, in a fake death, while Haku herself collapses from her injuries and chakra exhaustion.

Kakashi, flickering over as his student was falling checks Sasuke, seeing him covered in needles, in spots he recognized as pressure points, Kakashi realized that this was just like with Zabuza, a fake death, not a real one. Looking over at the fallen nukenin Kakashi sighed, she wasn't going anywhere soon. Seeing that two of his students were fine Kakashi looked to the third. He was in trouble. Big trouble.

* * *

**With Naruto**

* * *

A panting Naruto dodged yet another attack by the viscous Sanbi, massive damage had been caused to the bridge around them, from the strikes of the Sanbi, if this didn't end fast the bridge would collapse around him and Naruto would be trapped in the Sanbi's home turf. But Naruto knew, from personal experience, there was only one way for a human to defeat a demon, and that was to seal it. Naruto knew he would have to seal it, just one small problem, all seals capable of sealing a Biju required either ten people with kage or high level chakra or the casters life. Now, while Naruto has massive chakra, above kage level, even he wasn't ten times that level. This left Naruto with quite a problem. He couldn't stop the beast, but if he didn't it would destroy all his friends, and the village."

Dodging yet again Naruto tried to think of something, anything that might help. Deciding that bombarding the demon with lightning would work best he put his hands in the only handseals needed for his favourite Jutsu, "**Kage bunshin no Jutsu**" with that cry nine clones appeared next to Naruto, all ten of the Naruto's jumped off in different directions, all ten pulling out shock tags and covering a kunai with them. All ten in unison threw the shock tags at the Sanbi. All ten shock tag covered kunai strike at once; the massive electrical charge flowing through the great demon paralysed it for just seven seconds. For Naruto this was more than enough time. With the speed only a seal master could manage all ten Naruto's pulled out their seal brushes and painted long range lightning seals on the bridge. Just as the Sanbi recovered, all ten activated their seals. As the Sanbi was moving to attack again, lightning flowed through the bridge and up in towers into the Sanbi.

The creatures screech could be heard all the way in Konoha.

* * *

**Konoha**

* * *

The civilians of Konoha started running around screaming. Every citizen over fifteen who had been on Konoha on that fateful day knew that sound. The sound of a demon. Even though the civilians couldn't feel the pressure, the evil aura, that surrounds a demon, they knew there was one out there. And that frightened them to no end. Every civilian knew that the Kyuubi brat was out of town, they knew that their own demon wasn't there to save them, that thought brought another 'would he save us?' as the thought dawned on the people of Konoha they wondered, 'would the demon, who we scorned for so long, save us or would he let us die?' the ramifications of this thought would be so wide stretching to be unimaginable.

Right now it really sucked to be jonin level or higher. For every ninja of jonin level or higher could feel it. Feel the hatred, the killing intent, the malicious chakra of a Biju, only one knew where it came from. Only the hokage knew.

* * *

**Hokage office**

* * *

"That feeling, it's coming from wave. That's where I sent Naruto!" now, you might think that the elderly kage was worried that the Kyuubi had escaped, or was escaping, or something had happened to Naruto. But he could tell, he could tell that it wasn't Naruto, it wasn't the Kyuubi. It was some other demon. And that was why he was afraid. Team seven, a Genin team on a C-rank mission, they stood no chance. Even with a Jonin like Kakashi, and a Jinchuriki like Naruto, they stood no chance against a true unleased Biju. And for that reason he was afraid, afraid for team seven in their hopeless battle against one of the legendary tailed beasts.

* * *

**The Bridge**

* * *

Naruto faltered, even with the exposure he had to the Kyuubi's chakra over the years, Naruto was not prepared for the full force of the Biju's mighty killing intent. It was so powerfully overwhelming that he dropped the seal, just for a split second but that was enough.

Free of the infernal lightning the great beast charged the one that had harmed it. This is the difference between the Sanbi and the other demons, the Ichibi, was homicidal, not the brightest of candles but still had some intelligence. The Nibi, she was a mighty cat demon, some of the smartest creatures of all and the Kyuubi, a kitsune, the single smartest and most devious of all creatures. Unlike these Biju the Sanbi was stupid. Really really stupid. So stupid it could not be considered intelligent. All the Sanbi knew was the most basic of basic instincts, such as pain, and anger. Both of which it was feeling, pain from the burn of lightning and anger at the one who dared harm it.

In its anger it shot a massive ball of water straight at the little speck that dared harm it. It watched in joy as the water grew closer and closer to the speck. Then it hit, water went everywhere, the demon was happy, the one who hurt it was dead. But then it felt pain, it saw that the one who hurt it was not dead, he was in fact alive, and had just hurt him again. In its growing rage the Sanbi summoned a gigantic tidal wave from the waters behind it.

* * *

**With Naruto**

* * *

Naruto stared in blank horror as the water rose and rose and rose from the oceans surrounding them. Twenty feet, fifty feet, ninety feet, one hundred and thirty feet, finally it stopped, one hundred and fifty feet. As the gigantic wave came towards him, Naruto had just one thought on mind

'Oh crap, I am SOO screwed right now'

* * *

**AN**

**Correction: well...i feel stupid, I was re-reading one of my earlier chapters and had said previously that sasuke unlocked the sharingan. as such i have edited this chapter so it that sasuke already had the sharingan.**

your all pretty lucky, three days early, even if its a bit short, i wanted to finish at this point. there might be a slight delay on the next chapter, as that's right around the time when exam block starts, so i'll be low on spare time.

It seems team seven is dead. How the hell will they get out of this, sure they defeated Zabuza and his gang, but a three tailed demon, and a hundred and fifty metre high tidal wave (for those of you who use metres like me that's 45m) and two of the team down. This is a really bad situation. How will they ever get out of it now?

To those of you who are going to complain about the wave, it's a water demon, they are surrounded by water. There's a LOT of water. It has perfect control of water. What's to stop it from creating as big a wave as it likes.

Oh and for feeling the chakra in Konoha as well as a scream, well how do you think they knew about the Kyuubi two days away, while I did say that the guards at an outpost felt it, that meant it was within range of the border, and I don't know about you, but I think a gigantic fox could get from the border to Konoha in less than two days. Using the rough distance from wave to Konoha, I figured that was about the right distance to feel the demons chakra (for Shinobi capable of detecting low levels of chakra, as at that distance the level is low) and as for the scream, its a REALLY BIG DEMON, it can scream REALLY LOUD. And no, I don't have a reason for why their eardrums didn't explode. Chakra maybe?

**hoketsuga: **it translates to basically blood replenishment/clotting pill. (Kabuto takes one in the fight with Tsunade after slitting his wrist)

the effect is two fold, through a combination of different drugs the pill speeds up the hearts creation of new red blood cells while increasing the bloods ablity to clot, helping in sealing wounds and generating blood to replace lost blood.


	12. The Fall of a Biju

**The Bridge**

* * *

'Oh crap, I am SOO screwed right now' was all that passed through young Naruto's mind right now. He was staring at the sight in front of him. First there was the gigantic three tailed turtle demon. But he wasn't worried about that right now. You might think that not worrying about a gigantic turtle demon in front of you would be stupid. In this case it's not. Right now Naruto is looking at the gigantic hundred and fifty foot high wall of death, aka water, bearing right down on top of him. 'Wait, what's water's weak element, wait that's earth, damn I suck at earth elemental Jutsu. This is bad, this is really bad. Too bad we don't have that hunter nin, didn't she use ic...wait, doesn't wind plus water give ice. I see a lot of water in front of me, and I'm quite good with wind, well, it's better than dying.

So Naruto, pulling out a last ditch desperate attempt to stop the wave of death that was growing ever closer pulled out a blank scroll from his kunai pouch 'damn only one more left, better make this count then' quickly scribbling down the seal for wind chakra enhancement Naruto began channelling his chakra into the seal. As his chakra flowed through the seal it was converted, from regular and lightning element into wind, now, with enough wind chakra for the entire Jutsu to be made up of wind chakra Naruto flashed the hand seals

"**Futon: Daitoppa**" and with that cry and mighty blast of wind whipped up, now a normal Futon: Daitoppa wouldn't do much against a wave like this, this wasn't a normal Daitoppa, and it was powered by one hundred percent pure wind chakra. That turned this little C ranked Jutsu in something more deserving of A-rank. The hurricane force winds collided with the wave of water. Now, Naruto was smart for once. You see, the user of the Jutsu can specify little things, like air temperature. Naruto chose the coldest air possible. As such the leading edge of the wave froze. It wasn't much, it wouldn't hold for long. But it had bought them at least a couple more minutes to ponder their deaths.

Just as Naruto stopped to take a deep breath, even he could only last so long dodging for his life. Kakashi flickered in next to him "Situation?"

Sighing Naruto said "well, the wave of death is currently frozen, partially, I only expect it to hold for about a minute max, then the water will either defreeze the ice or the Sanbi will break it itself. Despite still having around 80 percent my chakra I'm starting to get physically exhausted from all this running. Oh and we are fighting a gigantic turtle demon of death. All in all, a bad situation"

Looking down at Naruto Kakashi asked "how did we end up fighting the Sanbi anyways?"

Naruto sighed once again "it's simple, Daiki was a Jinchuriki, like me, I...I...I killed him." Naruto said pausing at the last bit as the realization finally hit him, he had just killed. "then after he hit the ground I turned around to go and help Hinata and Sasuke, then I felt the chakra of his demon, turning around I saw a light rising from Daiki, it grew and grew until it was the Sanbi. I guess he must have released the sea...that's it"

Kakashi looked puzzled "what do you..." he never got to finish as he was cut off

"sorry, Kakashi-sensei, no time to talk I think I might know how to win, if that barrier comes down before I'm ready, you'll have to hold off the water and the Sanbi until I'm done" with that Naruto dashed off towards Daiki's body.

Looking at Daiki's corpse Naruto felt the overwhelming urge to puke, here was the man who he had just killed. Pushing past that, Naruto tore what remained of Daiki's shirt off him. Right there on his stomach was the seal that had previously held the Sanbi.

'What the hell is this? It's just Hakke no Fuuin Shiki. Sure this would contain the Sanbi, but its chakra would freely flow into the host. Daiki would have had to put up with constantly suppressing his demon, as there's clearly no barrier between it and him. Well, it appears that the seal is still intact, it's just open, I should be able to seal the Sanbi back in here, but damn, this seal takes a lot of chakra. I may not have enough.' Just then the ice barrier cracks away, leaving a wave half its previous size heading right for them. Along with an angry Sanbi. Turning behind him Naruto sees the unconscious forms of Hinata and Sasuke.

'What am I thinking; my friends lives are on the line. I'll have to risk it.' With that Naruto pulls out his final scroll from his kunai pocket and starts writing.

Just then Kakashi yells "Naruto!"

Looking up Naruto yells back "I need more time"

As the wave grew even closer Kakashi yelled again "Naruto you have no more time!"

Just at the same time Naruto yelled "Done!" calling upon a kage bunshin Naruto had the clone grab Daiki's body before they both flickered off in the direction of the Sanbi.

* * *

**With the Sanbi**

* * *

The Sanbi stood behind the wall of ice. Growling at the one who had dared hurt it. The one who had stopped his water. It desired the flesh of this mortal. To feel the crunch of his bones between his teeth. As such, just before the wave hit where the speck that had hurt him was, he stopped the wave and it dropped away harmlessly.

Once the water had washed away the Sanbi looked for the one it now wanted to eat. But all it saw was others. Where was he? Just then it felt something. There was something on its head. it must be the one who hurt it. Growling in rage the Sanbi swiped at the one who hurt it with its tails. Instead of feeling the squish of a body all it felt was pain. It had hit its own head. Growling even louder than before the Sanbi began searching for the one it wants to kill again. Then he felt something. His back hurt. Pain. He remembered this pain. It was different. It wasn't like the pain from before. No, this hurt but inside. This pain, he had felt it when he was sealed in that boy.

Letting out a terrible roar in defiance the Sanbi struggled. It tried to escape. But it found it couldn't move. It was helpless. The pain grew, and grew. He was been sucked into that boy again. Why. WHY! Letting lose one final roar the Sanbi was sucked into the seal on the dead boy's stomach. The last thought on its mind before it was sealed in the corpse was. I don't wait to die.

With that the great and terrible Sanbi had been killed. For as it lay within the seal on the dead boy, it watched as the barely visible mind around the seal grew dimmer and dimmer. Until all the Sanbi saw was black, then it saw nothing at all ever again.

* * *

**With Naruto**

* * *

Naruto stood on top of the Sanbi's head, having flickered on top of it. Just as he was about to activate the sealing he saw the Sanbi's tail coming for him. Naruto and the clone grabbed Daiki's body before flickering onto the great beasts back. The second they stopped moveing Naruto activated the seal on the scroll. It slowly started drawing out the soul of the Sanbi. As it drew out the demonic turtle's soul it channelled it into the seal on the dead boy's body. More and more of the demons soul was sealed.

Naruto was growing tired. More tired every second. He could barely stand 'just a bit more. It's almost half way. There its half way, I'm half done.' But as the seal drew out more and more of the demons soul the harder and harder it became. For the demon did not want to be sealed. It did not want to die. So the more it was sealed the more it struggled. Resisted. So the more chakra it drained. The demon wasn't even sixty percent sealed when Naruto passed the chakra safety point.

The chakra safety point was the minimum amount of chakra needed to live. If you went beyond this point there was a chance you wouldn't survive. The further past the point the lower the chance gets. 'Damn, I don't have enough chakra. I need more chakra! For wave! For Kakashi! For Sasuke! For Hinata! I WILL SEAL IT!' with that last defiant thought Naruto's world started darkening.

* * *

**Deep within Naruto's seal**

* * *

"**So, the boy wants to seal and as a result kill another demon, a Biju in fact." **Saida deep, dark voice. As an evil laughter filled the seal it said** "Well, this works perfectly for me." **with that blood red chakra rushed out of the seal. Flowing right into Naruto

* * *

**With Naruto**

* * *

Naruto was about to give into the darkness when it happened. A sudden rush of power. As red chakra spiralled around him, he felt stronger, more powerful, he felt like he could seal the demon. Red chakra poured into the seal. More and more. The more the turtle resisted the more red chakra flowed into Naruto and into the seal. Until at the very end Naruto was a beacon of chakra. More than all the kage's combined, and all of it was flowing into the seal. The Sanbi didn't stand a chance. With one final roar it vanished in a flash as its soul was completely sealed with it all the chakra that made up its body.

Now, that Naruto was finished he suddenly felt the rush of red chakra leave him. At the same time he felt like he was falling. He never got to realize what was happening or try and save himself. For seconds after the demon was sealed Naruto was unconscious.

* * *

**With Kakashi**

* * *

Kakashi watched as the great demon vanished in a flash of light. Fearing that his student, and teacher's son, had just sacrificed himself to seal the demon Kakashi rushed towards the falling boy. Seconds before Naruto hit the bridge and the certain death the awaited him, Kakashi caught him, saving his life. Putting his fingers to Naruto's neck Kakashi felt a pulse. It was weak but it was there.

"Well, that's something I can so no one else has done. He has sealed a demon away without dying." Looking at the remains of the other body, the body of the demons host Kakashi continued "even it was back into its original container, he still sealed a demon and survived. Not even the Yondaime could do that. I wonder how he did it, and what will happen to the demon"

Grabbing his two students and the surviving nuke-nin, Kakashi looked around for Tazuna, seeing the old bridge builder hiding under the bridge on some of the support beams, he calls down "Tazuna, its safe to come out, come on, me and my students are hurt, we need to get back to your house"

After receiving a weak nod, Kakashi waited for Tazuna to make his way back up onto the bridge before setting off for his house

* * *

**Tazuna's House: the next Day**

* * *

Sasuke was the first of the three Genin to awaken. Even so, due to the affects of the temporary death, and the damage from the other needles, he couldn't move yet. This is why it really sucked to be Sasuke today. He was stuck in bed. Completely unable to move. Unable to read his Icha Icha, and a sensei that refused to read his book out loud.

Hinata was the next to awaken, having suffered multiple deep cuts over her arms and chest, from Daito's water blade, was confined to her bed. Oh and she was covered in more bandages then a mummy.

Haku, she was still unconscious, while her burns were healing, it was going slowly. Kakashi was thankful about this, he didn't want the Nuke-nin waking up until both him and his team were at full. Just as a precaution she was tied up in ninja wire, several layers, clothed in a kimono he had borrowed from Tsunami, so that she couldn't access any hidden weapons, and locked inside a room with seals on it to prevent escape as well as traps surrounding it. All in all she was safely secure

Naruto was the last of Kakashi's team to awaken. Having recovered from his injuries during the night, but not the Chakra exhaustion until around 2pm.

As Naruto shifted awake he felt his danger sense go off. His eyes springing open he saw Sasuke staring at him, from his bed. Hinata also staring at him from her bed, and Kakashi towering over him. Guessing what this was about Naruto said "um. Hi guys?"

"Naruto," at the tone in Kakashi's voice Naruto gulped, he knew this was _very_ bad if Kakashi was using that tone "What do you think you were doing not only taking on a Jinchuriki, alone, but also fighting the three tailed Biju. Then doing the single most stupid thing I have ever seen, sealing it back inside its dead containers body.

Unfortunately Hinata and Sasuke both heard the word Jinchuriki and asked at the same time "What's a Jinchuriki?" as Kakashi realized just what he had done he received a glare from Naruto.

Sighing Kakashi said "A Jinchuriki is a person who has had a demon sealed inside them. These demon containers, or Jinchuriki as they are commonly called, are generally extremely powerful, as not only does the demon increase their natural skills, but they can draw upon the demons on chakra to enhance themselves even further. The price however is that it takes a life to seal a Jinchuriki and Jinchuriki are generally hated, despised as the demon they contain. This and the fact that demons generally arn't sealed well as the sealers want weapons not containers, allows the demon to torment the host, generally diving them insane."

Hinata and Sasuke gasped, how could people do this to others? And imagine growing up like that, alone, hated by everyone, and even tormented by a demon that lived inside you that you could never escape. No wonder they went insane.

Hinata realized something "but, didn't you say that Naruto sealed a Biju, and that anyone who seals a demon dies?"

Giving his student an eye smile for been so bright Kakashi answered "yes, Naruto is the only person to ever survive sealing a demon away."

Hinata did something no one had expected. She glared at Naruto. Yes glared. Before tackling him, hurting herself by slightly re-opening her wounds, and started crying into his shoulder. "Why did you do something like that? You could have died" Hinata sobbed out into Naruto's shoulder.

Completely unsure of what to do Naruto just did what he did before, and tried soothing the crying girl. At the same time Kakashi and Sasuke looked at each and smirked. While Kakashi thought 'excellent, maybe he won't take as long as his father"

After a few minutes Hinata had calmed down enough to get off Naruto. At which point Kakashi asked again "So, Baka, why did you do it?"

Sighing Naruto just said "well, at the start I kept him at range, using seals, but once he started using his demon's Youkai I couldn't keep him away with just seals, so I started dodging a lot, as you and Zabuza saw. While that was happening I had some Kage bunshin I had created at the start of the fight design a set of seals, which I then lured him into. The first was an 8 point containment seal, basically it traps everyone inside it so they can't escape. Then a five point suppression seal, it's the generic anti Jinchuriki seal; it forces all the Youkai back into the seal, quite violently, generally blocking the demons ability to send Youkai into the Jinchuriki for an hour after. Finally I activated a full power shock seal. It fried him. After he fell I started to head to help you guys, then I guess as Daiki was dying he released the demon. All of a sudden I had a gigantic, angry, turtle demon behind me. And I was the first thing it saw. After spending a long while dodging, I tried ten high level lightning attack seals, but that only made the stupid thing madder. You never want to make a demon madder than it already is at you. After that I figured out a way to stop it. Only problem is I would need time. Time I didn't have. Luckily you arrived Kakashi-sensei, so with you distracting the demon I studied Daiki's seal, luckily it was one of the ones I know, as...it was in the Yondaime's seals book" Naruto said as he just dodged mentioning that that very same seal was a part of the seals that make up his seal

"Also very luckily Daiki just opened the seal, releasing the demon, instead of destroying it. Think of it like a cage, he just opened the door instead of blowing it up. So I remembered about how the sealing a demon works, the part I did just requires chakra. Lots and lots of chakra. Basically you are draining the Demon's soul into the seal. The second part, that part that I used Daiki's original seal for, is containing the demons soul. That part requires the sacrifice of the user's soul, but as there was already a seal there to contain it I used that one instead of creating one with my soul. So I sealed a demon with only a massive chakra drain, it drained pretty much all my charka so here I am, about half recovered from chakra exhaustion.

Hinata's eyes widened "But Naruto-kun, it takes a week to recover from slight chakra exhaustion, yet alone draining away most of your chakra." At this Naruto smiled

"Hinata, as Sasuke and Ero-sensei will tell you, I have a Lot of chakra, and a really high chakra regeneration rate. By tomorrow, maybe even tonight, my chakra will be fully restored." Hinata just sat there in awe. Super chakra reserves and regeneration rate, 'no wonder Naruto-kun can push himself as long and hard as he does.'

Naruto decided to ruin the moment of awe with "I'm hungry, is there food yet?" this innocent comment left the other three occupants of the room laughing.

* * *

**AN:**

* * *

Hakke no Fuuin Shiki: eight divination signs seal style

* * *

**Seal:**

First off, Kyuubi's seal: my take on this is that the Kyuubi's soul and yin chakra were sealed inside the Shiki Fujin, what this means is that both the Kyuubi's soul and its more corruptive, Yin chakra are incapable of coming in contact with Naruto. To those of you who are about to say 'then how can he talk to the Kyuubi' I meant physically come in contact, for example he can't draw on the Yin chakra, and the Kyuubi's soul can't affect Naruto, such as possessing him like the Shukaku can. On the other hand the Yang chakra was sealed inside the Hakke no Fuuin Shiki, this is a binding seal. Basically it binds the Kyuubi's Yang chakra to Naruto, so it can't escape. The problem with just using that seal, like with Daiki, is that all it does is bind. There is no containment like the Shiki Fujin, so the chakra would be in constant direct contact, kinda like adding another chakra coil set. This means that there is no stopping the chakra, it will flow constantly through Daiki, along with having the Sanbi's soul able to directly interact with him.

The difference with Naruto is he has two four point image seals on top. They are containment seals. They act like gates. Theoretically if you twisted the seal the right way it would shut off Naruto's connection with the Kyuubi's yang chakra as well. But as they are right now, there is a gap between the gates where a constant amount of Youkai flows into Naruto, with the gates opening wider in dangerous situations as a protection for the one bearing the seal.

My take on Jiraiya 'twist' on the seal, is that he opened the gates wider. This allowed more Youkai to flow into Naruto, at a faster rate, and allow excess to flow in easier. The problem is that the chakra is separated from the Kyuubi's soul. It has no control over it. So the charka acts as per its natural state, a blood thirsty fox. The regenerative powers of the chakra try to 'return' Naruto to that state, hence why the more of it he draws the more damaging as it's trying to turn him into a fox, but it can't. So it ends up destroying the cells instead.

Oh and as for the mindscape, in Cannon Naruto had no idea about his seal, it was just a seal. So his mindscape, his mental manifestation of the seal would be just as one. Because he didn't understand how it actually works.

* * *

**Re-sealing:**

The reason Naruto did not die is twofold. First I believe that the live sacrificed is used to construct the initial seal. In other words the Sacrificed's soul powers the seal, the expectation been Naruto's seal which is powered by the Shimigami's soul as that is who made the seal, while Minato sacrificed his soul in payment to the Shimigami to make the seal.

Since the seal was already there all that Naruto needed to do was draw the Sanbi inside. This is normally the second part that kills the sealer. This stage requires so much chakra that it drains away the users life chakra, or the minimum chakra kept in reserve to keep the person alive. The Kyuubi supplemented Naruto's charka so he didn't run out and die.

Finally, the death of the Sanbi and sealing into a dead host. Well from the basic biology I did in science, the body stays alive for a time after death. While it is slowly shutting down, the time frame between the release and resealing of the demon was short enough so that Daiki's body was not entirely dead yet. I'm making an assumption that the Soul of the person is still connected to their body until they are completely dead, hence why people have been dead for short periods of time. This means that when the Sanbi was re-sealed it was re-connected to the not entirely departed soul of Daiki, as a result when Daiki's body finally completely died and Daiki's soul passed on the Sanbi was dragged with it.

* * *

**Hinata:**

Something a reviewer said and something that might have been noticed here. My construct of Hinata right now.

After the time she spent around her team she is now comfortable around them, as long as Naruto doesn't get too close. But whenever someone else is there she goes back to her old shy self, while not quite as bad as before, it's still bad.

Next Chapter: Return to Konoha

You'll never guess that plot twist.


	13. Return to Konha

**Tazuna's house: Four days after the bridge assault:**

* * *

All was going well for team seven so far. The bridge was nearly complete, thanks in part to a couple thousand Naruto clone assistants. Tazuna said that it should only be a day or two until the bridge was complete. Naruto, the very day of his recovery, decided to do something very stupid, brave and kind, but very stupid.

* * *

_Flash Back_

* * *

_Naruto opened his eyes, looking around him he saw that Haku was chained and unconscious, Hinata and Sasuke were also out, Kakashi was probably at the bridge. 'Perfect,' thought Naruto 'I have about a quarter of my chakra back now that should be enough.' Slowly sneaking out of the house ninja style, IE: out the window, Naruto disappeared into the woods leaving a shadow clone in his place in bed. _

_Running down to the docks Naruto looked around for some mercenaries, finding a pair looting the place; he followed them off, probably to Gato's hideout, while leaving behind a group of shadow clones to 'dispose' of any mercs still there._

_Arriving at Gato's hide out, Naruto quickly disposed of his guides, before heading inside. Once inside Naruto found very little resistance, only the odd poorly trained samurai here and there. Finally reaching Gato's vault Naruto opens it with a simple application of "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu". Once inside Naruto's jaw dropped. There was more money than he could imagine, more than enough to pay off the massive debt wave had gotten into both with their mission, which they still need to pay for, and the bridge they built. So much in fact that wave could become a major player at some point with this much money behind it. _

_Yet Naruto, who is still a little bit simple in some ways of the world, is completely ignorant of this. All he thought off was helping the people of wave out. Pulling out a sealing scroll Naruto begins to seal all the cash, diamonds, gold bars and various other valuables, into the scroll._

_Just as he finished and was about to head back to the house Naruto saw a man at the gates to the hideout. Just one look and he could tell this was trouble. The man was no mercenary, or samurai. The kunai pouch and shuriken holsters signified him as a Shinobi, just like the headband with four wavy lines on it, said he was a Kiri-nin, finally the mask signified he was a hunter-nin. _

'_Damn, this is bad.' Trying to sneak away Naruto made about five steps before a kunai sliced along his cheek._

"_Where do you think you are going." Said the hunter-nin. Freezing in his tracks Naruto slowly turns to face the masked ninja. The piercing eyes of his mask sending chills down Naruto's back. The hunter Nin opens his mouth to speak, although it's impossible to tell with the mask he's wearing, "A Konoha Nin eh? If Zabuza's really dead I'll just take you instead." _

_With that the masked Nin disappeared, only to reappear right in front of Naruto, delivering a powerful blow to his face. Laughing he mocked "Is that all you tree huggers can do? I can't believe that one of you killed Zabuza." Disappearing again, the ninja reappeared behind Naruto this time, delivering a kunai stab to his back. _

_Having just barely sensed the ninja appearing behind him, Naruto managed to turn enough so that the what would be deadly shot into the back of his heart, only slashed the side of his upper arm. Realizing that right now he was screwed Naruto decided to try a despite idea, activating his Sharingan Naruto stared into the eye slits of the hunter's mask. _

_Now, normally a hunter-nin mask protects against Kekkai Genkai like the Sharingan, but covering the eyes up in narrow slits. The only problem is that the person wearing the mask has to know that the Nin they are hunting has a Kekkai Genkai like the Sharingan. Because the only way to avoid them is to avoid eye contact, the idea behind the slits is they narrow the area of the eye that the Kekkai Genkai can try and affect, but it still requires the user to look away slightly. Sadly this hunter-nin didn't know Naruto had the Sharingan, why would he. As far as everyone outside of team seven is concerned the Sharingan is dead expect for Itachi and Kakashi, with the youngest Uchiha, Sasuke, not only not possessing the Sharingan, but been a complete failure at the academy._

_All of this resulted in the poor Hunter-nin been caught in Naruto's Sharingan induced genjutsu. That was something very interesting about Naruto's Sharingan. It could cast incredible genjutsu, it could see the movement of chakra around the body, it could track fast moving objects, and provided Naruto with the ability to quickly memorise something. Yet it missed the sharingan's most well known ability, the ability to instantly copy and Jutsu it sees. No one, not Naruto, not Kakashi and not the hokage, could ever figure out why, it just does. Not that Naruto cares, as that fits him perfectly, as Naruto said when he first found out "so? Copying other people's Jutsu is like cheating. If I'm going to learn a Jutsu I want to do it on my own." With that no further exploration into why Naruto's Sharingan couldn't copy Jutsu was ever preformed._

_As said previously this sharingan's ability to create genjutsu was amazing. Naruto watched as the hunter-nin stabbed himself in the heart. Not surprising considering the genjutsu Naruto used. It made the victim think they are doing the opposite of what they are actually doing. So when moving his kunai forwards to stab Naruto in the eyes he actually moved his kunai backwards stabbing himself in the heart. The worst thing is that the hunter-nin never realized he was in a genjutsu, or that he died. His world just suddenly turned black and he knew no more. _

_Sighing Naruto deactivated his Sharingan. 'damn, technically that's other kill, that's why I don't like the Sharingan, it's too dirty, I like to fight people myself, not use some cheap trick, but it was me or him. Oh well, the people of wave will be happy.'_

_With that Naruto headed back to town, where he delivered the money to Tazuna, without the man knowing that is. The rest of the day was spent celebrating the mysterious person who saved wave from the life of debt. _

* * *

_End flashback_

* * *

It was currently Naruto's turn to guard their unconscious prisoner. No one knew what exactly to do with her. So they ended up keeping her bound in a room with one of them watching her at all times. She had still yet to awaken from the bridge incident. This was very odd, for there was no medical reason for her not to awaken; perhaps she sensed that her master had fallen?

Just as Naruto was pondering these thoughts, the girl awoke with a gasp. Gazing into her eyes Naruto saw something there, something terrible. The sight of one who had lost their purpose, their very reason to live. Life without a goal, without a purpose, can hardly be called life at all. Closing her eyes Haku said just one thing "kill me."

This earned a blank stare from Naruto "Kill you? Why?"

Shaking her head Haku replied, "Because, I have no reason to live. My life was to serve Zabuza, nothing more." Seeing the look on Naruto's face she elaborated "When I was little I lived with my mother and father. We were a happy family; my father would always call me his little hime. Then one day I found I could control water, in a joy that only a small kid could experience I ran to show my mother, she knew what it was, it was her Kekkai Genkai, the perfect control and water to form and control ice. Instantly she slapped me across the face, and then took me to my room, where she explained that it was a Kekkai Genkai and that if I ever showed anyone else it again they would kill us. Naturally I never did, but, my father had seen me using it. The second he did he also realized what it was and ran off to collect the villagers. That night, when my mother was putting me to bed, they came. I watched as my own father set my mother on fire. On fire. I watched as they burnt her live. When I couldn't stand it anymore I reacted. My Kekkai Genkai triggered and spikes of ice flew everywhere. Everyone died. Rushing to my mother, I watched as she withered away, her burnt body unable to retain life. "

Pausing to catch her breath, and wipe away the tears forming Haku continued "After that I lived on my own, on the streets. When winter came I knew I was going to die. I had no food, no proper clothes, and the winters in Kiri would kill a poor orphan like me. Then Zabuza-sama found me. He took me in and sheltered me, even though he knew I had a Kekkai Genkai, he gave me a new purpose, a new reason to live. To make him happy...but now, now I have no reason to live. I have failed Zabuza-sama, and wish to join him. Can you understand the pain of living without meaning? It's worse than death."

Naruto reached over to Haku, thinking that he was going to fulfill her wish Haku closed her eyes and awaited the blow, but it never came, instead a loud slap was herd and she felt a stinging sensation on her left cheek. Opening her eyes again she saw what had happened. Naruto had a slapped her. "So what if you lost your reason to live. As long as you live you can find a new one. The pain of losing someone precious to you, I don't know that pain yet, but remember, you should always mourn those lost, but move on; they wouldn't want you to throw your life away like that. Zabuza would want you to live on, for him, to see his dream come true, even in his death."

Haku just stared at the boy, shock evident on her face that is until a smile formed. "Thank you, I think...I think I know what I want to do now."

After that they both sat in silence, until Sasuke came to replace Naruto.

* * *

**The bridge: 3 days later**

* * *

Team seven stood at the wave end of the bridge saying their goodbyes, the entire village had gathered to bid farewell to the team that had save them all. Out the front were little Inari, Tsunami and Tazuna. Smiling as they waved goodbye to the departing team seven, Tazuna said out load "you know, we never did name the bridge."

Smiling up at his grandfather Inari suggested "How about the great Naruto Bridge?" to which Tazuna laughed,

"That's a great name, 'The Great Naruto Bridge' the bridge where a legend began. With that the town let out a cheer, for team seven, and the boy, who through Inari, had changed their hearts.

* * *

**With Team seven**

* * *

As they ran, ninja style, across the bridge Sasuke said "Are you sure it was wise to let Haku go like that?" the only reply he got was a smile and one sentence from Naruto,

"She's going to fulfill Zabuza's dream, getting rid of the corrupt Mizukage and changing Kiri for the better."

With that team seven kept running, back towards home.

* * *

**Konoha: 2 days later**

* * *

A somewhat tired team seven finally arrived at the check in point at the gates of Konoha, after showing their papers to the two Chunin guarding the gate Kakashi tells his three students "Go home and rest." Before disappearing in the Konoha Shunshin.

Sasuke headed off home, while Naruto waved goodbye to Hinata, who blushed slightly, before they both headed home.

If only they knew it would be for the last time.

* * *

**Hokage Tower: Hokage's office:**

* * *

"I see" said the elderly kage after heading Kakashi's report on the c turned S ranked mission "You do know that this is going to cause issues right?" getting a nod from Kakashi he sighs "knowing the council they will probably be declared strategic resources" now this, this caused Kakashi to gasp

"But hokage-sama, they can't, their just children, they can't do that to them?" half yelled half begged Kakashi, seeing the sorrow in the old man's eyes he knew that they could.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, but from what you have told me it looks like they will end up doing just that."

All Kakashi could do is shake his head before Shunshining home thinking 'Not even the Sanin, had to worry about that until they were twenty."

* * *

**Council Office:**

* * *

The Hokage stood before the village council, having just told them exactly what had happened. How a C-ranked escort mission had turned into an S-ranked escort mission. With Kakashi killing Zabuza, one of the legendary swordsmen, Hinata, killing Daito, a high Chunin, near Tokubetsu jonin, level missing nin from Kiri, Sasuke defeating Haku, even though she wasn't a nin, she was marked as Tokubetsu jonin level in Kiri's bingo book, and Naruto, Naruto killing both the Sanbi's Jinchuriki, and sealing the beast away after it was released by its dying Jinchuriki. The council was up in arms. As one civilian council member demonstrated when he yelled out

"Hokage-sama, you can't be serious, you expect us to believe a team of failures, two genin who barely passed the exam, a girl who only just made average grades in the exam, and Kakashi, regarded as Konoha's worst teacher, defeated a team of four jonin or near jonin level ninjas." The other members of the council voiced agreements, such as Hiashi who said

"My daughter is a failure, far too weak to defeat her younger sister, let alone a near jonin level ninja. There must have been some mistake."

All the hokage did was remain perfectly neutral and said "I just explained exactly what happened, that is the complete truth."

Every council member was speechless, a team of failures, lead by a failure of a teacher, somehow advanced to near jonin level in just six months. Danzo was the first one to recover "They should be placed into my Root program, with their potential..." he was cut off by the hokage's glare

"They will not be made into _your_ emotionless tools Danzo." Was coldly spoken by the elderly kage, a council member said,

"Then, they should at least be declared Strategic resources." This caused some gasps on the Shinobi side of the council, the ones who knew just what would happen to the kids if they were to be declared Strategic resources.

Shikaku tried to speak out against it "But, there are just children." To which the rest of the council quickly ignored and argued that if they could take on jonin they weren't just children anymore.

Sighing the hokage realized that he had no choice. The ninety percent of the council agreed, team seven should be put under Strategic resources category for ninja. It was a category reserved for ninja who truly where like resources to the village. While most ninja are regarded as tools, no more important than your hammer, ninja declared strategic resources are much more than that, they are irreplaceable, there very presence could turn the tide of a battle, so they were generally the first sent out to battle, and lived some of the worst lives.

A prime example is the Sanin; they were among the first ninja to be declared strategic resources. The mere sight of the Sanin was enough to scare many enemies into surrender. Yet the life of a ninja in the strategic resources program was hardly normal. Some say that it wasn't the death of Tsunade's brother and fiance that drove her into drinking and gambling her problems away, but what she endured in the strategic resources program that those deaths only served to push her off the precipice on which she was standing.

Similarly some say that Orochimaru was not born made, or power crazy, or that he couldn't handle been rejected for the position of the fourth, but that the strain and stress of the strategic resources program created these flaws. That his life as a member of the strategic resources program corrupted him, and turn him from one of the most promising ninja in the history of Konoha to a crazed psychopathic ninja hell bent on learning all the Jutsu in the world.

Even Jiraiya is believed damaged by the program, people saying that his constant perverseness is actually his way of trying to forget and burry the memories of those times.

There is only one man believed to have survived the strategic resources program sane, Namikaze Minato, aka the fourth hokage. Yet, what very few knew was that the fourth was far from sane. He was probably one of the most damaged from the program. Sure he didn't turn crazy and start chopping up villages like orochi, or become a self proclaimed super pervert like Jiraiya, or spend his days drinking and gambling his life away, but that didn't mean he doesn't have scars. After every battle Minato would have several creates of Sake delivered to his house, and he wouldn't be seen for days afterwards. His wife once confided to the third that every night Minato would suffer from terrible nightmares, each night worse than the last. By the time of the Kyuubi attack Minato had barely only got a few hours here and there over the course of the month. The third thinks that if they Kyuubi hadn't attacked when it did Minato might have suffered a mental break down only a month or two later.

Sadly very few people believed these rumors, so to today the Strategic resources program continues, and our favorite team has just been forcibly joined.

* * *

**Training Ground seven:**

* * *

Team seven was sitting around the tree waiting for Kakashi to arrive, not expecting him for a few hours. When he suddenly did arrive with a squad of Anbu behind him they all were shocked. Sasuke stood up to say "wha?" was all he managed to get out before all three of them were knocked unconscious by the Anbu squad and carried away, with Kakashi lagging behind 'I'm sorry.' Was all he could think.'

* * *

**AN:**

Sorry for the late and small chapter, but I will have another one out soon as it's the final week of school (also exam week hence the late and shortness) once exams are over I'll have a lot more spare time to work on this.

What exactly is the strategic resources program? How could it break all these ninja? Just wait and find out.


	14. Reactions

**Konoha:**

* * *

News travels fast in the greatest of hidden villages; this is both a very good thing, and a very bad thing. The ability for news to travel from one side of the village to the other in little under a day has resulted in no Konoha ninja been surprised due to a lack of communication for the last twenty years, of course with the rapid transmission of information; a lot of the security is lost. The result of this can be seen in the days following the Kyuubi attack. Within one day of the great beast's sealing word that Uzumaki Naruto was the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki and exactly where he was. Two days after the sealing every one of the major villages knew exactly who was Konoha's Jinchuriki and his exact address, making assignations easy as walking down the street. In fact the only village that didn't know within a week was Kiri, and that's because they have no spy network as their too caught up in their Kekkai Genkai war to care about anything outside the mists that surround the land of water.

You might find yourself wondering, why exactly are the gossip circles of Konoha important to this story? Well its quite simple really, it's actually the reason a very _interesting_ series of events are about to unfold. It all started when Inoichi told his wife, Ayumi, about team seven been ordered into the strategic resources program, (**AN:** SRP for short) and how they were just children, then of course Ayumi, been the one who Ino inherited her gossiping talents from, spread that to her friends, who spread it to theirs and so on.

Iruka, who was sitting down at a nice dango shop enjoying a stick of dango, as you do in a dango shop, first heard of team seven and the SRP program from two middle aged women who were gossiping in the shop. Now Iruka, like most Shinobi hadn't ever heard of the Strategic Resources Program, but it sounded really bad, so Iruka did what all good teachers did, he went and researched the topic at the Konoha library. As time dragged on for Iruka, who was searching for anything more than the odd reference or two to the SRP, started to get angry. For something to be this well hidden it has to be very bad. Resulting in Iruka starting to go into the overprotective parent/older brother he is when he's around Naruto. Then it happened. Iruka found a scroll detailing the general workings of the SRP, and what has happened to every 'survivor' of the program. First it sent shivers down his spine, then anger over what they were going to do or already doing to Naruto.

In a speed only found through extreme rage Iruka rushed towards the hokage's tower, for a very interesting meeting with the Sandiame.

* * *

**Konoha: Elsewhere:**

* * *

In that same Dango shop that Iruka had been in, only fifteen minutes prior, sat two of Konoha's most attractive jonin. Konoha's ice queen Kurenai and her friend Anko aka 'the snake bitch'. While inhaling down her dango Anko said in a rather loud manner "Kurenai, ya hear about team seven?"

Now Kurenai, not having many friends, as a result of both her reputation as Konoha's ice queen and her friendship with Anko, is not the kind of women to listen to gossip, ok to be fair she never gets invited and is pretty much always the last one to know about anything, so all she could do is shake her head in the negative and think to herself 'This doesn't sound too good, something's probably happening to Hinata.' What few people realize is that Kurenai considers Hinata to be like a daughter to her, and Hinata feels the same way back. When Kakashi proposed his idea for team seven Kurenai didn't bother objecting at first because she thought the hokage would dismiss it, then it was shock over someone other than her actually wanting Hinata, who most dismissed as a failure, then when she was finally about to object the Hokage approved and Kakashi was gone to tell Iruka about the changes before she could speak. Resulting in Kurenai missing out on her chance to be Hinata's sensei, although she was happy that Hinata was with her crush, it would do her good, even if she did worry for her, a lot.

"Apparently they completed a high A ranked mission, each of them defeating ninja near or at Jonin level." This caused Kurenai to gasp, Hinata fighting Jonin level nin? And winning? "Apparently the council deemed them major prodigies to have gone from failures to Jonin level in six months; they forced team seven into the Strategic Resources Program."

This caused Kurenai's blood to run cold. With that terrifying fear you feel when you know something has happened to someone you love pressing down on her Kurenai asked "Strategic Resources Program?" the look on Anko's face seemed to almost confirm Her fears, all doubt was utterly destroyed when Anko told her what they do in SRP and what it does to people.

All of ten seconds after Anko finished explaining Kurenai was up and running to the Hokage's tower, for a very interesting meeting with the Sandiame.

* * *

**Konoha: Hokage's Tower:**

* * *

All of a sudden chill run down the hokage's back, and he sneezed, causing him to knock over a pot of ink, all over just finished paperwork, and the copy of Icha Icha paradise he was reading. Letting a curse out as he disposed of the ruined book and paperwork via a small Katon Jutsu, he was about to ask for any copy of the paperwork, so he could do it, again, when two ninja broke through his front door, the first a red eyed jonin giving him a hard glare, the second a Chunin dolphin also glaring at him.

Sighing because he was certain he knew what they wanted he asked the question he already knew the answer to "What can I do for you two?"

At the same time both Iruka and Kurenai yelled out "How could you force team seven into the SRP?!" before glaring harshly at the old man.

'I knew it' thought Sarutobi before he let out a long sigh and tried to explain "I didn't, it was the council."

This just earned him harsher glares then before "The council?" asked Iruka with Kurenai finishing with "You're the hokage!"

Sighing, yet again Sarutobi thought 'today is a really sigh filled day.' "Everyone seems to think that the Hokage has total power, which is completely wrong. Right now I have less power than a clan head." this shocked Kurenai and Iruka 'less power than a clan head?' they thought to themselves, with Sarutobi continuing "The Shodaime established the Council as a way for the hokage to have the input of both Civilians and Shinobi in his decisions, they were meant to provide advice, nothing more. Yet the Council members were greedy, the majority of them wanted more power, so when the Shodaime died, in the week between his death and the Nidaime's appointment they changed the laws so that not only did the hokage have less control over clans, but that if the council made a unanimous decision they could overrule the hokage. With the weeks wait between the Nidaime's death and my appointment as hokage they changed the laws further, this time a majority vote could overrule the hokage, and made the clans completely independent, so that no matter what I am legally not allowed into interfere with any clan decisions, only if me and the majority of the council deem it as 'dangerous to the well being of Konoha'. Because I peacefully transferred the title of Hokage to the Yondaime they council couldn't get away with anything, and he was working on a way to disband the council for it had became corrupt. Sadly the Kyuubi attacked before the Yondaime could complete his plan, and with his death there was a two week pause between that day and my reappointment. That is when the council made their move. First they made it so the council could meet without notifying the hokage, second to pass any motions they only needed one third the total council and a majority vote of that one third. Finally they made it to repel a law requires a unanimous vote by both the hokage and the council. So in the end, the position of the Hokage is nothing more than a figurehead, all I really control is whether I use a blue stamp or a red stamp."

This floored the two Shinobi present, 'how could this happen?' they thought, before Iruka voiced a question that was nagging him "Why don't you do anything about the council? You're the hokage you could forcibly remove them."

Sighing for what felt like the millionth time today the third just slowly shook his head from side to side "While that theoretically would work, not only is it illegal, so I couldn't actually order the Shinobi to help overthrow the council, but far too many of the Shinobi under my command are loyal to their clans over the hokage, combined with Danzo's ROOT, which was meant to have been disbanded but never was, I would either lose the fight or it would leave Konoha in a crippled condition ripe for the taking."

The two concerned teachers just stood there with their heads down"Isn't there anything you could do for Team seven?" asked Kurenai,

This brought a simple to the thirds face "Actually I already have, I managed to influence who would be their instructors at the SRP and their training style, it should help keep them sane, or at least alive."

The sudden reminder of just what the Strategic Resources Program is like brought a depressing expression onto the three's faces.

* * *

**Training Ground #26:**

* * *

Sakura and Shino stood at the base of a large tree waiting for Kurenai-sensei to arrive for their midday training session, fidgeting Sakura yells to no one in particular "Where the hell is Kiba? So what if Sensei said not to meet for another ten minutes he still should be here already.

As if summoned Kiba suddenly come into sight, running towards Sakura and Shino, coming a panting halt in front of the two, just as Sakura was about to yell at him for his poor skills with punctuality he started yelling at his two team mates "Hay guys you hear about what happened to Team seven?"

All thoughts Sakura possessed of yelling at Kiba died at that, 'Sasuke-kun's on team seven' "What happened?" demanded Sakura, with a look that promised pain if she didn't receive an answer in the next second.

Feeling slightly intimidated by his extremely violent Kunoichi teammate Kiba started speaking at a speed no one could understand "teamsevenjustgotbackfromacrankedmissionbutactuallyturnedouttobeanarankedmissionandsasukeandhinatabothfoughtajonineachwhilenarutokilledademon."

Sakura just stared at Kiba before yelling "SPEAK SLOWER!" before hitting him on the head and glaring at him, promising even worse pain if he didn't hurry.

This time Kiba actually managed to form a coherent sentence "Team seven got back from an C ranked mission yesterday, but it was actually an A ranked mission, Sasuke Hinata and their teacher each fought Jonin level ninja and Naruto fought a demon."

This completely shocked Sakura flooring her, while Shino, also highly shocked, merely rose both his eyebrows and widened his eyes slightly.

The thoughts running through Sakura's head were certainly interesting to say the least. 'Cha Sasuke-kun is soo great, he fought a Jonin and won, I beat he had to save Naruto-baka from that demon' raged Inner Sakura while outer Sakura mentally agreed.

Shino's thoughts were much more reasonable and logical, as expected from an Aburame. 'Hm, this is extremely odd, even a genius ninja would be unable to rise from the dead last of the academy to Jonin level in only six months. I was sure that Uzumaki-san and Uchiha-san where holding back in the academy, but I did not suspect them holding back that much, but what about Hyuga-san? She truly seemed to be at that level, what kind of training could increase her from the middle of the class to Jonin level in such a short period of time?'

Sakura was the first to voice a comment to Kiba's information "I can't wait to see Sasuke-kun and congratulate him; he'll defiantly take me out on a date!"

Hearing this Kiba paled, fearing Sakura's response when she heard the final piece of information, unfortunately for him Sakura saw this and demanded to know what's wrong. Fearing for his life Kiba manages to say "According to Kaa-san Team seven has been put into something called the Strategic Resources Program, its designed for the most gifted of gifted nin, and generally they don't see anyone other than their trainers for a few years." Before he fled as fast as he could away from what was soon to be a 'Sakura destruction zone'

Luckily for Shino Sakura, like most people, forgot he was even there, unluckily for Kiba she ran after him to literally 'kill the messenger' feeling the great need to sigh, but refusing because Aburames do not sigh Shino went over to the tree and started talking with a butterfly perched on one of its branches, while Sakura chased a desperately fleeing, and screaming, Kiba around the training field.

This was the scene that a slightly depressed, having just left the hokage's office, was greeted with. It rose her mood slightly.

* * *

**Training Ground #3:**

* * *

The sinfully lazy Shikamaru was resting quite peacefully on the hill in the centre of training ground three, the field most often been used for capture the hill styled team combat, staring up at the clouds slowly drift by, while his best friend Choji sat next to him chomping away at what seemed like his hundredth packet of chips. This peaceful atmosphere was broken when an over energetic Ino came running out the hill yelling about something Shikamaru, or Shika-chan as his troublesome mother would call him, really couldn't care less about

'probably about Sasuke' Sasuke thought dryly to himself, when Ino finally reached the top of the hill and began prattling on about what she had heard happened to team seven, Shika just tuned her out, thinking it was yet another one of her, Sasuke is the perfect rants, which he would always reply to, 'then why did he tie with Naruto as dead last?', which would again as always been countered with, 'Sasuke was just hiding his true skills'

Catching onto Shikamaru's plan of completely ignoring her Ino decided it would be best to kick him in the ribs to get his attention, groaning about 'troublesome blondes' Shikamaru sat up and actually started paying attention to what Ino was raving about.

"Shikamaru stop ignoring me or I'll kick you harder, Sasuke's gone!" This caused Shikamaru to snap to attention, 'gone?' he thought to himself as he pondered what exactly that could mean 'Is he dead? Or has he been captured? Defected?'

Completely oblivious to Shikamaru's thoughts Ino kept on ranting "He's in some program called the Strategic Resources Program or something like that."

All of Shikamaru's thoughts ground to a halt 'Strategic Resources Program. SRP, where have I heard that before...wait didn't day say something about that.'

* * *

_Flashback_

* * *

_A young Shikamaru lay on the rooftop of his parents house lazily watching the clouds float by, laying next to him was his father, grumbling something under his voice the elder Nara explained why he had brought his son up here, "Shikamaru, when you become a ninja there is something you have to careful of, it's called the SRP, it's a program for the most gifted of gifted ninja, a program that can turn a genin level ninja into an ANBU in only a year or two. It trains them to be the 'perfect' ninja. The only problem is that it doesn't work. The program is extremely harsh, and very few members survive, and those that do are mentally damaged, sometimes too damaged to live outside of mental institutes."_

_The younger Nara looked at his father in confusion "but tou-san, why would they have a program that only a few survived and even then they were insane?" _

_Shikaku smiled at his son's genius "it's simple, fear; the program is to create ninja that make other villages afraid of us, afraid of attacking us. It works, every ninja that has survived the program turned out to be super powerful, but this has cost us. The first time we were hurt was when Orochimaru betrayed us, many blame his insanity and resulting betray on the program. Another 'success' of the program is Uchiha Itachi."_

_Little Shika's eyes widened "But didn't he kill his entire clan?" _

_Frowning at the memory Shikaku answered "Yes he did, but he managed to destroy an entire clan by himself, that's why they changed the program. Now all graduates are contained in chakra suppressing cells, only allowed out for two hours of training every day, under heavy ANBU watch. The only other time they are allowed out is as a demonstration of their power to our enemies. So far that hasn't happened, but we don't have anyone in the program right now anyways, but be careful, never trust anyone in that program and make sure whatever you do don't get recruited. _

* * *

_Flashback end_

* * *

"Ino, your right Sasuke's gone. You need to forget about him" this caused Ino to start screeching at Shikamaru who just said "Ino, if he survives the program, and that's if, he won't be allowed out and will probably be insane"

Ino, while wanting to deny what Shikamaru has said been true, inside knew that Shikamaru is never wrong, so she did the only thing she could do when she thought the one she 'loved' was lost to her, fell down in tears, and oddly enough Choji was the one to comfort her.

* * *

**Somewhere within Konoha:**

* * *

Sasuke started to open his eyes, when he did he saw that him and his team were in the middle of a solid steel room, with only a table and three chairs around it to act as furniture. Standing up as the other two slowly awoke he looked around the room; there were three doors along one wall, then a lone door on the opposite side of the room. Standing in front of the door was a Man in complete black with a black mask on , with no emotion he said "Welcome to the Strategic Resources Program."

* * *

**AN:**

Sorry for the later than expected chapter and slight shortness, I didn't want to introduce the SRP until next chapter so I had a little trouble thinking of how best to write this one. On a few notes I expect people to comment on

Sasuke fan girls: yes they still exist, even though Sasuke started to tie with Naruto for dead last after meeting Kakashi (Intentionally) his clan name and looks still attracted fan girls, while not as many as in cannon he still had them, Ino and Sakura included.

SRP: Originally I didn't even plan for this, but then when thinking of a way to offset the power of team seven, cus they certainly seemed too strong, this also gave me an idea for a plot line I have never seen before. If anyone can guess what my story is going to differ on compared to pretty much ninety percent of all stories based around Naruto as a ninja (IE not high school or cross over's where he's not in the ninja verse anymore) you'll get a choice on who faces who in the Chunin exam finals.

Konoha Politics: from what i'v seen in cannon there have been a lot of sitations where a dictator styled hokage would have not had the problems shown, so i can only think to myself that there must be some kind of reason why the hokage's don't have the control they should, all we ever see Tsunade (the only hokage we really see a lot of) do is stamp documents, assign missions and order the troops around in battle. she doesn't seem to have much control over what goes on, now i just expanded that backwards so that it happened to the third aswell, also i wonder what will happen in the break between the third and the fifth?

oh i'd just like to touch on the stats of the story

Story Words Chaps Reviews Hits C2s Favs Alerts A Freak Event 56,475 14 135 36,807 23 117 211

Thanks to all who helped out to make the story get this far.


	15. Testing Begins

**Strategic Resources Program HQ:**

* * *

All Sasuke could do was stare at the man in front of him. His brain just didn't understand what was going on. 'What the heck is going on? First we were waiting for training then we are attacked by ANBU, now where are in some program about strategic resources, and what the heck is that guy doing wearing clothes like that?'

Sasuke was defiantly right about the strange man's clothes, a black as night mask, with no discernable features on it; you couldn't even tell if it had eye holes. Then he appeared to be wearing a full black body suit that covered his neck and seemed to go into his mask on top of that was a black flak jacket. 'Doesn't he get really hot in that?' thought Sasuke to himself.

While Sasuke was pondering the strangers clothes Hinata and Naruto were slowly awakening. Seeing that the three of them were now all awake the man in black spoke again "Welcome to the Strategic Resources Program. I'm Kuroi and I'll be your supervisor."

Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata just stared at the man, all thinking exactly that same thing 'What the hell is he talking about?'

Smirking under his mask at the looks the three genin, not that they could really be called that anymore or won't be able to be after he's done with them, Kuroi decided to fill them in "You three have been selected for the for the Strategic Resources Program, a Program for our most gifted Ninja, the goal of this program is to change you from ordinary ninja, or tools, into something more valuable, a Resource. Like the Densetsu no Sannin or the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu, Ninja that strike fear into the hearts of our enemies and deter attacks by your mere presence."

This caused mixed reactions between the three, Sasuke thought what a great opportunity this was, the thoughts of his two teammates were much more negative.

'Damn, this is bad, they might find out about my Sharingan, or my teammates might learn about the fox' thought Naruto to himself in worry

Hinata's doubts were similar, in that she was worried about what others would think of her 'They said this is for the most gifted ninja, but I'm not that good, sure Naruto-kun always tells me how good I am, but father always said I was a failure, and he hasn't talked to me since the genin test.'

The three genin were forced out of their thoughts when Kuroi spoke again "You three will be the first to undergo a new training set. While we did assist the Densetsu no Sannin in becoming strong it was done individually with them all separated. However, very few have survived our program here, and those that do are generally less then sane, so under the order of the hokage we are going to test to determine if working in a team would improve results. This is also required as you three have all displayed a complete lack of skills, despite all the training you received, prior to joining team seven, since then your skills have grown at an unprecedented rate, as such for your stay in the program you will be training, eating and sleeping together."

That last bit brought a blush to the three young nin, pointing to the left most door, from the perspective of the single door he stood in front of "That door leads to the Bedroom, which contains three futon, the second door leads to the bathroom, and the third and final door is a study room, containing many research materials. Meals will be delivered three times a day at the appropriate times. You will find individual schedules over your Futon, along with a name to identify whose schedule it is. Your training will begin tomorrow." With that finishing statement Kuroi turned around opened the door and left. Seconds after the door closed behind him several large bolts could be heard sliding into place, telling the three genin that they were not getting out of their steel cage anytime soon.

Sasuke was the first to do something; he stood up and sat down on one of the chairs provided. Looking down at his two teammates, who were both still seating in the spots they had awoke he said "Well, what's the plan?"

Naruto just looked at Sasuke "Plan?"

Sighing Sasuke groaned back at Naruto "Let's see we are in a secret training facility, locked away from everyone we know, in a steel room, with everything made of steel and bolted to the floor, plus they are going to train us to be better then tools, which will undoubtedly involve mental conditioning, can't have your weapons getting all emotional in battle can you?"

Naruto and Hinata looked appalled, they hadn't thought of the situation quite like that, and when you think of it like that they are in quite a lot of trouble. Escape, hopeless, staying, unacceptable, their choices were not good.

Just as Naruto was about to say something a loud sound entered the room from no detectable source "Sleep time, Lights out in five minutes!" and with that the room was silent again.

"Well I think it would be best if we got to our rooms, read our schedules and got to bed, before the lights go out." Commented Sasuke as he headed to the room that was described by Kuroi as the bedroom, with Naruto following closely behind him, and Hinata following them in a daze.

You see, Hinata was having issues. Well, to be completely honest she was terrified. This entire experience, from the kidnapping by Anbu, to the cold steel room, to the strange man, it all reminded her of Kumo's attempt to kidnap her. This place, it was exactly like she imagined it would have been, even the man who greeted them was exactly like what she expected the Kumo men would be like. This frightened her dearly, for a single thought ran through her mind 'What if he's lying, what if this isn't Konoha but Kumo or another village like them?' And nothing that had happened so far served to disprove this thought, the thought that remained in her head until the lights went out and she fell asleep from exhaustion caused by the kidnapping and the worrying. That and the sleeping gas that was pumped into the room with them not knowing helped.

* * *

**The Next Day:**

* * *

Team seven was forced from their dreams as an ear-piercingly loud sound split the air, throughout their small room the sound reverberated, it was two simple words "Lights On." With that the bright light of the room flickered on, momentarily blinding our three favorite ninja, blinking their eyes clear the team slowly rose from bed and went about their morning activities to the best that they could in the harsh conditions of their not so disguised prison.

Once they were done the sound of the door opening was heard, as Hinata, the first one done as she was the first to claim the bathroom, approached the door she found that there was no one there, only three foil coated rectangles, each one had a name on it, taking them to the table and opening the one with her name on it, Hinata discovered that inside there was some water to drink, and a lot of, well, it would best be described as...grey goo. Poking it to make sure it wasn't alive, Hinata dared to use the provided spoon and actually try some of it. Now, as the saying goes, if it looks like grey goo, it smells like grey goo, and it moves like grey goo its grey goo. Yet, this definitely didn't taste like grey goo, it tasted, like chicken. Deciding she liked this taste Hinata continued to eat the mystery grey goo.

When Naruto and Sasuke came out and saw Hinata eating gray goo, well they were slightly disturbed, and then everyone would be, they were watching Hinata, one of the closest things Konoha has to a princess, eat mysterious grey goo, and seem to enjoy it. It defied the laws of nature, like Kakashi not reading Icha Icha, or Kakashi showing up on time. It just didn't happen. It just shouldn't happen. Yet it did happening, it was happening.

Sitting down Naruto and Sasuke also tried the mystery goo, and found, just like Hinata, that it was actually quite good tasting, and continued eating, well Sasuke continued eating and Naruto shovelled it down, they had somehow made Naruto's grey goo taste like Ramen.

It would have been not even five minutes after they finished their food that the door swung open, and in it stood Kuroi, all he said was "Training Time." and with that started walking away. Not having anything better to do in this steel cage, and wanting to find out exactly what they would be doing in training, all three followed Kuroi, as they guided them through a very long and bendy corridor, what seemed to be a one way corridor. What team seven did not know is that this corridor was actually connected to the entire facility, it's just that every single doorway has a high powered seal that castes a controllable triple S ranked genjutsu, making it look like there was no doorway there. This allowed the facility personnel to move participants in the program around without them been able to take note on any paths they could use to escape. Something special about the triple layered genjutsu is that when someone touches it the mind thinks they are touching a wall so strongly that they feel the wall, even if it's not there, if they apply any force their hand will go 'through' the wall, causing a conflict in the brain, along with massive amounts of pain, enough to knock out a normal Jonin instantly, to surge through the offending limb until it is removed from the wall. This also sets off an alarm that alerts facility personal to a wall breach and were, allowing them to easily capture the ensnared escapee.

Finally arriving at the training grounds team seven was shocked. The corridor had opened up to the massive space, it looked like it was half the size of Konoha, covered in highly sectioned terrain, in one part was heavy forests like you would find around Konoha, in another a massive lake with lots of little 'islands' like you would find in Mizu, there was a small desert like you would see in Kaze no kuni. Finally speaking Kuroi informed team seven of what they would be doing "For this week we will not be following the schedules posted above your beds, this week will be preparation for the training described in the schedules, we will spend all of today testing you in every way imaginable. First Naruto will be test, then Sasuke and finally Hinata"

With that Kuroi and Naruto headed out about fifty metres away from Sasuke and Hinata, once there Kuroi said "I will be testing you in your skills with Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu and Fuinjutsu, then I have a series of tasks for you to complete that will test your chakra control, your chakra level, stamina, physical strength and speed, the three of you will do them at the same time when I'm done testing. First Taijutsu"

With that Kuroi assumed an unknown stance and awaited Naruto to attack. After a few seconds Naruto realized that he was expected to attack first, as this was a demonstration of his skills, as such Naruto charged forwards, while seeming like a very stupid move. That was the idea. A direct forward charge designed to fool the opponent into believing that the user is stupid or lacks training. It was the opening move of a Taijutsu style only known to three people, it was, the hummingbird style. Two metres from Kuroi Naruto disappears in a flicker to the left. Spinning around Kuroi blocks a high speed strike to his solar plexus only to jump over a sweeping kick to his right kneecap.

Once in the air Kuroi blocks a kick from above, with a grunt as the high speed kick hit surprisingly hard. Hard enough to send Kuroi flying back down to the ground. Unfortunately for Naruto, he didn't know much of the hummingbird style as the creator, the Yondaime, was fast enough with the style and his Hiraishin, that he could finish most opponents off in the first few moves. As Naruto was falling back to ground Kuroi leapt up meeting him half way, grabbing Naruto's foot before he could react Kuroi tossed Naruto head first into a large bolder.

Worry for their friend and teammate filled Sasuke and Hinata as they waited with baited breath for the cloud of dust to fall. When it did it revealed Naruto panting while on his hands and knees, the collision had clearly hurt him. Just as Hinata was about to rush off to help him Kuroi's voice filled the air "You displayed an Acceptable level of Taijutsu skill, not great but not terrible. It is clear you don't know much of your style of choice, so as we cannot teach you more of that style you will be taught how to improve what you already know. It is time for Ninjutsu testing."

With that Kuroi started handseals for a Doton Jutsu, calling out "Doton: Tsuchi Gosunkugi no Jutsu". Naruto just manages to jump out of the way as spikes come shooting out of the ground around him.

Putting his hand into a cross shaped seal Naruto summons nine shadow clones without saying the Jutsu name. As all ten Naruto's start going through handseals Kuroi thinks to himself 'This could be very bad.' Just as that thought finishes the clones also finish their handseals. Ten simultaneous cries of "Katon: Karyu Endan no Jutsu". As ten flaming dragons fly towards Kuroi he thinks 'oh shit'. As the flame dragons hit where Kuroi is standing, they all collide, resulting in a flaming tower of, well fire. Seconds after the flame hits Kuroi the nine clones pop from running out of Chakra and Naruto stops as well, putting his hands on his knees panting a little, while he has massive chakra reserves, and it is only a B-ranked Jutsu, the Karyu Endan is high A-rank in chakra consumption, and that's a continuous drain, multiply that by ten, and the chakra needed to form the shadow clones, plus the exhaustion of running out of chakra nine times, because the feeling of exhaustion from the clones transfers back to the user. All add together to form a tired Naruto.

What Naruto was certainly not expecting was for Kuroi to come flying out of the ground, while simultaneously dragging him down into the ground. Struggling to get out, as Naruto is about to perform the Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu himself to get out when Kuroi says "Ninja, excellent, you clearly know high level Ninjutsu and probably a lot, along with that you have shadow clones to replicate your power, and you have a massive chakra reserve. Yet you didn't think out how best to use your Jutsu. If you had somehow distracted me, or perform the Jutsu in secret I would have ended up fried, but instead I had plenty of time to prepare for it. That was your mistake and we will work on Ninjutsu application when it's your time for Ninjutsu training. Finally, Genjutsu"

Just as Kuroi finishes those words Naruto's world starts to go dark. Now, this is a question Naruto has wondered ever since his first experience with a genjutsu. Why the heck do genjutsu involve impossible events, it makes it kinda easy to notice them. As Naruto clearly recognizes this as a genjutsu he does the only way he knows to disrupt a genjutsu. Putting his hands into the ram seal, Naruto focus about one percent of his chakra into a compressed ball in the centre of his chakra system, then releases it. This creates a large wave of chakra that disrupts the chakra system of the user and everyone around them, dispelling Genjutsu. Before the darkness had even started vanishing Naruto was flashing through the handseals for the only genjutsu he knows, Kokuangyo no Jutsu, only Naruto's version of the genjutsu is different, instead of the victim suddenly been plunged into darkness they instead think that Naruto tossed a smoke screen at them and they are surrounded by thick black smoke that is causing the darkness.

Unluckily for Naruto the flaw of all genjutsu is that if the user has a high chakra control they can feel the changes in the chakra flow caused by the genjutsu, and sadly, Kuroi has extremely high chakra control. Putting his hands in the ram seal and momentarily stopping his chakra flow Kuroi cancelled Naruto's Genjutsu out. Seeing that Naruto wasn't moving to cast any more genjutsu Kuroi realizes something "You don't know any other Genjutsu do you?" getting a confirmation he continues "Ok, well your detection is excellent, as in your dispelling, although it is a bit noticeable, it's understandable that you can't stop your chakra. So when we do Genjutsu you will be studying more genjutsu to use."

Walking back towards the other two members of team seven Kuroi says "Sasuke, it's your turn"

* * *

**AN:**

Sorry for the late and short chapter, but a combination of good storys to read, school starting again and not been able to sit and write the chapter, I Knew what i wanted to right but couldn't build up the drive to sit down and write it. but its here now.

Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu: Seven swords men of the mist

Doton: Tsuchi Gosunkugi: Literally: Earth Style: Earth Spike: Causes spikes/spears of rock to come shooting out of the ground around a target area, good for use in trap building, or if you can catch or enemies unaware.

Katon: Karyu Endan: Fire style: Fire Dragon Flame Missile: the user shoots a stream of fire in the shape of a dragon out of their mouth

Naruto knowing Hummingbird (the taijutsu style of the 4th) can easily be explained by Kakashi 'accidently' observing, the style with Obito's Sharingan. Then Kakashi, knowing that Naruto was Minato's son taught him as much of the style as he knows, seeing as when he gets his family scrolls he'll learn it anyways.

I was just checking something in chapter one, and I noticed a couple mistakes that it seems no one else did, such as Gamabunta setting Minato on the ground yet Kakashi seeing him falling, me leaving dead demon consuming seal in English instead of Japanese

Thanks to S'TarKan for the idea for the Chakra wave/pulse


	16. Is this a lie

**Sorry all, just an update here to say the issue with the poll has been fixed and is now displaying properly**

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Konoha Library: Shinobi Law:

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Kakashi sat at a table in the middle of the library's section for Shinobi law, piles of books reaching higher than his gravity defying hair surrounding him, as Kakashi searched through book after book, looking for any kind of loophole. You might wonder, why is Kakashi doing this? What is all this work for? Well, it's simple; Kakashi refuses to fail this time. A little known fact, Kakashi, the legendary copycat Nin, regards himself as a failure, and has for years. You might be thinking 'what?' well it's true, for all Kakashi's achievements he has failed greatly. Kakashi's first great failure was his father. His farther, Hatake Sakumo, was a legendary ninja, yet he was a terrible father, His father pushed Kakashi hard. Harder then should have been possible. Yet Sakumo was never proud of Kakashi, for while Kakashi passed the Academy at five, he was entered in at age four, and failed his first year. This upset his father, who, while entered at age eight, graduated in his first year as the rookie of the year. Having expected his son to do the same, this left Sakumo disappointed in Kakashi, and made it well known to the young boy. But Kakashi's chance to make his father proud came the day after the Chunin exams. As the six year old Kakashi proudly strode into his father's house, Chunin jacket in hand, he found the house empty. Searching, he finally found his father, dead on his bedroom floor with his Hakko Chakura To, impaled straight through his heart. During the shock Kakashi dropped his Jacket, staining the insides with a red that could never be removed.

Kakashi's second life changing failure was his mother's death. It was a simple C-ranked mission; his mother had requested an escort to a nearby village, the Hokage, feeling that Kakashi needed to connect better with his family, assigned him the mission solo. The mission went fine, until they had just left the village on the way home. All of a sudden two Chunin level ninja jumped out of the bush and attacked, apparently they were after Kakashi in revenge for his father killing a family member. While Kakashi was managing to fight off both the Chunin, as he was about to finish off one of them with a fireball, the ninja jumped out of the way to reveal Kakashi's mother standing behind him, Kakashi watched in Horror as the fireball he had created, burnt his mother to a crisp, her death scream haunts him to this day. When the hunter Nin arrived two hours later they found Kakashi crying over a blacken body, and the entire area coated in the blood of the two Chunin who attacked him, it was then that they started to consider Kakashi for the Jonin exam.

Kakashi's next failure came in the form of one Uchiha, Obito. A ninja who turned out to be his best friend, a friend who sacrificed himself to save Kakashi, a friend who completely changed Kakashi's way of life with his nindo of "Those who break the rules are trash...but those who are abandon their comrades are worse than trash". Kakashi's Sharingan eye, will forever remind him of this day.

Kakashi's fourth failure came in the form of Rin, His only remaining teammate, devastated from the lost of Obito, whom she realized too late, that she loved; Rin took to the life of drinking. One day months after Obito's death Rin showed up at Kakashi's door, begging to spend the night with Kakashi, to make her feel loved. Kakashi unable to stand seeing his teammate this way, eventually gave in. However, after the act Rin realized why she had wanted to be with Kakashi, she wanted Obito, and hoped that been with Kakashi could help. Finally realizing the depth of her feeling Rin's sprit crashed, thanks to a combination of Depression and Alcohol Rin decided to Join Obito. When Kakashi awoke he found Rin dead in his living room.

Kakashi's final failure came in the form of his teacher, Minato. When Kakashi found out that Minato's wife was pregnant Kakashi made a vow. He vowed in front of Minato and Kushina that no matter what happens to him he will make sure Naruto grows up with both parents. Minato was shocked that his student would be willing to go that far for him, that was until he remembered that Kakashi had no one left in his life. Every one Kakashi had ever been close to was dead besides him. Yet, on the night of the Kyuubi attack all Kakashi could do is watch in horror as his Teacher, and the man he considered a second father, gave his life in defence of his village. With no one left in his life Kakashi would have fallen apart, but, out of the tragedy came one shining star, Naruto. After the Kyuubi attack, and prior to the five year requirement the third placed on Naruto's training, Kakashi spent every free hour watching over Naruto, hoping to spare him as much pain as possible.

Kakashi's second beacon of hope came in the form of a young Uchiha Sasuke, seeing Naruto bring the young Uchiha with him to training one day, brightened Kakashi's spirits; this would be a chance to help repay Obito, the boy who gave Kakashi sight, both literally and figuratively

Kakashi's third beacon came in the form of one shy stuttering Hyuga heiress. Kakashi picked her for his team for two reasons, the first was that she was the only serious Kunoichi of her class, and her skills could be improved in a way that she would mesh perfectly with their little group. The other reason, Kakashi knew she had a crush on Naruto, and decided that Naruto needed some love in his life, and who better than his teammate?

The three of them make up Kakashi's world. Without them, Kakashi would have nothing to live for anymore.

Yet that brings us back to why Kakashi is sitting in the Shinobi law section of the Konoha library. It's very simple really, he has failed. His team, his final precious people, have been taken from him. Yet there is still hope. So Kakashi sits, looking for a way to save them.

**

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SRP Training Ground:

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**

Sasuke stood facing Kuroi, and without a second's delay sent three shuriken flying towards Kuroi while rushing in from the side, hoping that the shuriken would distract him long enough to get a blow in, he was wrong. Kuroi quickly deflected the Shuriken and spun around delivering a powerful right hook to a poor Sasuke's face. As Sasuke slid his right hand twitched a bit, but no one saw it. However, Kuroi did see Sasuke's smirk, just in time to jump away from the shuriken about to impale him. "So you can use ninja wire that makes you as smart as oh say...an academy student. No wonder the Uchiha clan got massacred; you're all a bunch of wimps."

That set Sasuke off, instead of continuing to try and inflict as much damage with as little return or waste of energy, Sasuke recklessly charged head on at Kuroi, Kunai at the ready. A foot away from Kuroi, Sasuke received a viscous backhand that sent him flying yet again. Before Sasuke could recover Kuroi called out "Enough, while you're Taijutsu is good, and only needs some minor improvement, bar speed and strength, your anger is an issue, you went from probably mid to high Chunin level Taijutsu to civilian level, and all I had to do was insult your clan. Next, Ninjutsu"

Within five seconds of Kuroi saying the word 'Ninjutsu' a flaming dragon was racing towards him. Sighing Kuroi didn't bother using Ninjutsu to counter, and just used Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu to go underground to avoid the dragon. Before the smoke even cleared Sasuke was buried up to his head in the ground, with Kuroi crouching over him "Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, your still angry at me over what I said about you clan, that's why you didn't think. You must always think before using a Jutsu. Now, When do you use a Jutsu like Katon: Karyu Endan no Jutsu?"

Sasuke's reply was a snort. Followed by a scream as electricity surged through his body. Glaring up at his would-be sensei turned torturer, noticed that his two teammates were struggling to escape two Kuroi's that had appeared out of no ware and restrained them from behind. "Now, again, When do you use a Jutsu like Katon: Karyu Endan no Jutsu?"

When Sasuke refused to answer Kuroi snapped his fingers, yet, the expected pain of lightning surging through his body did not come, instead screaming came, looking in the direction of the screams Sasuke saw that Naruto and Hinata were been shocked. "Stop it!" Sasuke demanded,

To which Kuroi just laughed "When do you use a Jutsu like Katon: Karyu Endan no Jutsu?" Kuroi asked again.

Seeing his friends were still been shocked Sasuke gave in "When the enemy is distracted or unable to avoid it, now please let them go!"

Smirking Kuroi glared down at Sasuke "So why did you use it as an opening move, head on?"

Sasuke quickly said "Because I was angry, it was stupid ok? Now please, let them go?"

With another snap of his fingers the two Kuroi's holding disappeared, not in a cloud of smoke, but just vanished into the blackness.

"Sasuke, while your Ninjutsu skills are most likely high, both thanks to your teacher and your Sharingan, you need to think more when using, and make sure you don't get angry, a clam mind is your strongest weapon, finally, Genjutsu" instructed Kuroi as he pulled Sasuke out of the ground and jump back around ten metres

Going through some hand signs, Sasuke abruptly stopped halfway through a seal. Before glaring at Kuroi. Kuroi was about to comment about Sasuke forgetting the seals for his Jutsu when he felt his chakra waver. 'What? When did he?' slamming his hands into the ram seal Kuroi stopped his Chakra just in time to catch a blade poised to strike at his neck. "Nice, tricking me into thinking you stopped the Jutsu by continuing hand signs after it was already finished. Then catching me with your Sharingan, disguised by the Genjutsu over your eyes. Brilliant plan, see what happens when you think calmly? You could probably defeat low to medium level Jonin with that, although if they are good enough they will notice the fluctuations in their chakra like I did. I'll have to go over your Genjutsu library later to see how many you know, but right now you score excellent in Genjutsu, finally Hinata."

As Sasuke walked back to where Naruto and Hinata were Hinata leaned over to Naruto "I'm scared." to which Naruto smiled back at her and said

"Don't worry about it, if anything happens me and Sasuke are here for you. But remember, you're strong, no matter what anyone tells you, you're just as strong as me and Sasuke."

Hinata was about to leave when Sasuke reached them and started to apologize "I'm sorry for getting you two hurt."

To which Naruto just looked at him "It wasn't your fault, Kuroi was the one who did it to us."

But Sasuke would not accept that "But if I had just answered his question, it wouldn't have happened, if I hadn't gotten angry it would have happened either."

Naruto was growing frustrated and hit Sasuke on the head "It's not your fault that Kuroi is a bastard, don't worry we're fine and it's not your fault."

Naruto and Sasuke were dragged out of their argument as they heard screams, looking over to the source it seemed that Hinata had snuck away to fight Kuroi while they weren't looking. She was currently sliding down a rock face, having caused quite an indentation in the rock when she was sent flying into it.

Struggling to stand up, Hinata began to realize just the difference between her and Kuroi. She wasn't even able to land a single hit on him, while he had tossed her around like a rag doll. 'Am I really this weak? I guess I'll never get to tell Naruto how I feel about him...no...I will win this...Naruto said I'm strong...Naruto wouldn't lie to me...I will win... For Naruto!'

With that mental monologue Hinata felt recovered, jumping up she tossed three kunai at Kuroi, who just casually deflected them. What he noticed but did not care about was the tag on each of the kunai. The reason Kuroi did not care about the tag is that he saw it wasn't an explosion tag, and a shock tag wouldn't work through the rocky ground of the training field, so they couldn't hurt him. How wrong he was. Three seconds before the tags hit the ground Hinata was charging at him.

As Hinata was two metres out Kuroi sighed and was about to toss her away again, when the kunai hit the ground and activated the tag. The reason the tags did not look like an explosive tag is because they weren't, they weren't shock tags either. They were a special tag, a tag created by Naruto. A tag Naruto called, water tags.

A water tag is charged using a massive amount of chakra by the seal master; so much that normally they are impracticable to create, or so expensive no one can buy them. Water tags work on the same principle as a water Jutsu. They gather water. But, water tags need to work in any environment, so they gather water from the easiest source to access, if near a lake or river they will pull water from there, if over an underground spring they will pull water from there, but in a place like this training ground there was only one place they could get the water. The air. The massive amounts of chakra were needed to collect enough water from the air to form a small source of water.

The three tags around Kuroi saturated the ground, turning it into thick mud that Kuroi was struggling against, just before he could escape Hinata reached him yelling "Jukenpo: Hakke Rokujuyon Sho" and she began her attack "Two palms, four pal..." Hinata's attack was cut off as Kuroi managed to jump into the air.

Laughing as his landed Kuroi said "Excellent job Hinata, you are the first of the three to actually to land a hit on me. Time for Ninjutsu"

"ano...I...do-n't k-know a-any Ninjutsu other t-than the a-academy Jutsu and g-gentle fist." Hinata stuttered out while poking her fingers together and blushing

Sighed "that's alright, we will make sure to fix that, I take it you don't know any Genjutsu either?" receiving a headshake Kuroi finished with "Alright then, testing is over." And with that guided team seven back to their room, although it was along a path that seemed completely different to the path they used to get to the training ground.

Once back in their room Sasuke and Naruto started to wonder what they were to do while they wait, Hinata on the other hand was trying to gather the courage to tell her team about her fears.

Just as Naruto and Sasuke were going to head into the study Hinata spoke up "ano...I-I don't think we're in Konoha." This just caused her two teammates to stare at her, despite her greatly improved confidence around her teammates; this situation has greatly weakened that confidence that had been building, causing Hinata to cringe slightly at her teammate's stare, before continuing "I think we may be in another village."

Naruto was the first to respond to this, with the perfect response imaginable "Huh?"

Sighing slightly at her crushes sometimes stupidity Hinata tried to explain "D-Do you really think Konoha would do something like this?"

This got Sasuke to agree, "Your right Hinata, the Konoha I know wouldn't torture someone's friends just to get information out them" said Sasuke, still a bit sore about causing his friends pain like that.

Naruto was still unconvinced "But, you guys saw Kakashi standing there, you saw that it was ANBU who took us away, ANBU are Konoha Nin, other countries have their own versions of ANBU but only we have ANBU." This however caused a horrible idea to go through Naruto's head 'wait, wasn't Kakashi crying?' he asked himself, before voicing his fearful idea "What...What if Konoha sold us to another village."

This caused gasps from his two team mates "But why?" they both asked,

With Naruto answering "Simple, Sasuke, you're the last Uchiha, Hinata you're a Hyuga, an unsealed Hyuga. And me, I'm a Jinchuriki" with Naruto whispering the last bit, so faintly that while Sasuke and Hinata didn't hear it, Hinata knew what he said because she, like all Hyuga, learnt to lip read at an early age.

'Jinchuriki? Isn't that someone with a demon inside them? No, that can't be right, not Naruto-kun' Hinata thought to herself silently, deciding that now would not be the best time to confront Naruto about it.

Sasuke, accepting that Naruto probably got thrown in because they were a team, and not because they knew about his Sharingan, which they didn't, said "Well then, we have to figure out where we are and how to escape"

Hinata just shook her head "If Konoha traded us to another village, then it was probably for something really important, like a peace treaty, we could endanger Konoha if we broke out, they would think Konoha broke their deal, and even if that didn't happen they might return us but that time we would be under heavy guard."

Naruto just let out a very loud sigh before moving over to the closest steal chair and sitting down, running his hand through his hair, he said something that would probably change the course of fate itself, "Well, I guess we have no choice then. If we escape we'll have to avoid Konoha, and probably become nuke-nin."

This just left Hinata and Sasuke speechless, both that Naruto, the boy who sought to be Hokage more than people sought to breath, suggested that they become nuke-nin, destroying all chance at that dream, but also they realized that it probably was their only choice.

**

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AN:**

Sorry sorry sorry, please don't kill me. There is a good reason that this chapter is late...due to some infuriating technical issues I lost all the data on my hard drives, and spend a week trying to recover the data, IE a week without proper computer access, so not only did I lose all the work I've done on this chapter, but it caused my assignments to pile up, so I haven't been able to get any free time to work on this until now. For this reason I also apologize if it's a little short.

Oh and if you were a little confused about the ANBU, well ANBU, Their uniform, mask design and name, are unique to Konoha, the other villages have Shinobi of similar status, but they have different names, Uniforms and masks.

Here's the question, Is Hinata really right and did they secretly sell team seven out, or are they really in the SRP program?

Oh one final thing, I'm putting a poll up about the Chunin exam: Should Sarutobi live or die, either way there will be major consequences for Konoha, but I personally prefer if he lives, as it lets me completely change how Konoha will be post invasion, but I leave it up to you, my loyal readers.


	17. The nightmare begins

**SRP: The Following Day:**

**

* * *

**

Team seven was sleeping heavily, after a late night that dragged into the morning, only to be forced out of their peaceful sleep to the loud tone signifying that breakfast had arrived. Naruto, the endless ball of stamina that he is, was the first to manage to get out of bed to get the food. Only the food didn't look the same. Instead of the perfectly grey goo of the day before there is now a much darker, more blackish grey goo, in a larger amount then the day before. Placing the three plates on the table as his teammates stumbled out the door of their shared bedroom, still exhausted from the night before. Hinata was the first to comment on the strange taste of the food, or lack therefore of taste. "Um…Naruto-kun, Sasuke, does this food taste..."

Sasuke finished Hinata's sentence for her "Tasteless? Yeah, it does. I wonder if this just a part of varying our food, or do they have something planned for today?" little did the young Uchiha know that the latter idea was correct, only in the most horrible way possible.

Naruto looking at his two friends, Sasuke who he thought of as a brother, and Hinata that was an interesting question, Naruto felt strongly for her, but it wasn't in a family way like Sasuke, or was it? 'Gah I'm so confused' thought Naruto, deciding to distract himself from that line of thought Naruto decided to finish their discussion from last night. "So it's agreed then on what we are going to?" getting nods from both his teammates Naruto said "Kay then, we'll stick with plan A and hope it works out for the best"

_**

* * *

Flashback to the night before:

* * *

**_

_Hinata, slowly getting over her fear induced stutter, asked "Naruto-kun, Are you sure that's what we should do?"_

_Naruto, who for some reason that was lost to him had become captain of their little squad, just said "I'm sorry Hinata, but If Konoha sold us then we can't return there, ever, they would either try and return us here where we would nether escape again, or we would be killed on site to show that they didn't intend for us to escape back to them. We can't stay here, you've already seen that they are willing to torture us over little things I wouldn't be surprised if they try and turn us into mindless weapons, or use you, Sasuke, and me if they found out about my Sharingan, as breeding tools to gain their own clans. They might even do both. I've read about some pretty disturbing seals, seals that make the Hyuga caged bird seal look pleasant. Seals like Orochimaru's cursed seals, that give great power at the cost of not only becoming more dependant on the seal, but been slowly turned into a mindless slave for Orochimaru. I'm sure what ever country we are in has seals somewhere like that, even Konoha has seals like that, we don't use them and we deny their existence, but we have them." _

_It was Sasuke's turn to speak up "Then what's our plan for escape Naruto?" _

_Thinking for a while Naruto had an idea "Ok, they are planning on making us stronger right? I say we let them." This just got looks of shock from his teammates "No, think about it, we let them make us stronger, while we plan our escape, look for holes in their defences, a way to beat the shifting passageways, and when we are strong enough, we wait until we are in the passageway and escape." This got looks of approval, except from Hinata who was still scared about been turned into a mindless slave._

"_But what if they apply the seals before we can escape?" _

_Naruto shifted around for a bit before saying "I think I have something that will make me immune to controlling seals, I think, and if that works I should be able to remove the seals from you two, but just in case I have a protection seal, it's a one shot deal, after you use it you can't use it again as it burns out, and it can't be re-applied as the way the seal works, a second use would probably kill you. But it should work as we should only need it once."_

_Nodding Sasuke said "Well then you should probably apply it to all three of us, as if your protection doesn't work you'll need it as well" _

_Several more hours were spent applying the seal to Sasuke and Hinata, along with instructions of "Surge your chakra to the seal to activate it, it will dampen the affect so they won't be able to detect it" before Naruto applied it to himself and all three collapsed on to their beds asleep. _

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End flashback:

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Shortly after finishing their meals the door opened, revealing Kuroi standing there for five seconds and turned around, and team seven followed in fear of what would happen if they did not. Travelling through the passages again they noticed that it had indeed shifted again like they thought 'damn, this will be hard to escape.' Cursed Naruto to himself. Slowly they walked though passageway after passageway, and slowly the walls started shifting from their light grey to a darker colour, until after five minutes of walking the wall had become pure black. As they rounded a corner a door was seen the only way to tell it was a door, and not a continuation of the black wall, was that there was light shining from behind it. The door itself was a large black steel door, that had no knob, just a grip, grabbing the door Kuroi pulled it to the left and slowly it slid away into the wall, once inside the wall a piece of steel slid over the top of the door, the steel probably acting as a lock to keep people from opening the door with out permission. Walking through the doorway Hinata was the one to notice that the door had to be at least three feet, there was defiantly no way that they were going to be able to force their way through that door, or any door like that, without some serious waiting.

When Hinata's gaze returned to the room in front of her she let out a small gasp. There were three steel chairs that appeared to bolted into place, with really big bolts the kind you would expect to use if the chair was for restraining a Taijutsu master, each chair seemed to be the perfect size to fit one of the three Genin. With steel straps for the front of their feet, ankles, waist, fingers, wrists, above and below the elbows, their necks, and finally some sort of contraption that appeared to fit over their heads. Sasuke and Naruto been the first to notice this as they weren't paying attention to the door attempted to turn to flee, before they could even make half a turn they were grabbed from behind. Hinata, lagging about half a metre behind them saw that it was copies of Kuroi that seemed to appear out of solid darkness instantly. Half a second after seeing the two Kuroi clones capture Sasuke and Naruto, Hinata felt a Clone grab her from behind as well.

Struggling furiously the three teens tried to escape as they were forced into the chairs, continuing to struggle until the restraints were tightly fastened, and even then Naruto continued to attempt to struggle. When Kuroi appeared in front of the three Genin he looked like he was going to speak, before Naruto yelled at him "Yo, Teme, What the hell do you think your doing?"

Kuroi seemed to smirk under the mask "It was decided that after your teams display of emotion in training yesterday that the three of you are far too emotional for your own good. That is why, to make you better tools, we will be removing you of these emotions.

This set the three ninja off, spewing profanities at the man as he began seals "Don't worry, you three will thank me after this is done."

Struggling as hard as he could, with a sense of complete and utter fear overwhelming him, Naruto started to strain the restraints, just as the restrains on his right arm were about to snap Kuroi finished the seals and the three of them went still as the emotional purging began, not with a seal like Naruto had thought, but with a powerful Genjutsu, designed to warp the mind until it broke, and reconstruct it in a way that best fitted its user.

**AN: Warning Graph Scene Ahead, if squeamish I recommend skipping down**

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Sasuke's Genjutsu world:

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Sasuke found himself in the Uchiha clan estates. Except there was something different, the walls red with running blood. The ground was drenched in the same red blood that coated the walls. All around him were the bodies of his fallen clansmen. Then one of the bodies eerily rose and looked at Sasuke. Except the persons face seemed to be heavily decayed, and where there use to be eyeballs was instead empty sockets filled with wiggling maggots. As the corpse's mouth opened it revealed a maw filled to the brim with more maggots, as it spoke maggots dropped out of its mouth, but their numbers never seemed to decrease. "Sasuke why? Why did you let Itachi kill me? It's all your fault! If you hadn't stopped to talk with that boy I would be alive." The deceased body seemed to groan out, and with the words Sasuke finally recognized the corpse as his uncle who ran the little bread stand near the front of the compound. The same uncle he had talked to the morning before the massacre. Then another body rose, this time the body appeared female, yet instead of been covered in maggots this one was swarming with flies that crawled into and out of every orifice. As she spoke flies flew from her mouth. "Why? Sasuke didn't you love me? Why didn't you save me?" and this voice Sasuke also recognized, this time as his aunt, who helped his uncle run the little bread stand. More and more bodies began to raise, other aunts, uncles, cousins, the clan council, and others he didn't recognize. Then finally the last two bodies rose. Those of his parents. This time their bodies were covered in holes as ravens roosted on them, and seemed to pick the flash off their very bones. As his mother began to speak a raven stuck his beak into her eye and pulled out a bit, and behind the beak the black goo that fills the inside of the eyeball began to flow out of her ruptured eye. "Sasuke-Chan, why didn't you save me? Don't you love your mother? Save me Sasuke!"

All of a sudden the corpses started getting closer as the repeated "Save us Sasuke save us" over and over, until there were on top of him, and Sasuke found himself buried under the bodies of his dead clan, then, as a further torment he started to feel things. Maggots crawling over him, feasting on his flesh, as he cried out in pain he felt maggots and flies fall into his mouth and down his throat. Flies start crawling into his noise and ears, then finally a raven on his head started to eat his eyeballs. In the middle of the most horrible torture Sasuke could imagine a voice came to him.

"If you hadn't stopped to be friends with that boy you could have saved them. If you were stronger you could have saved them. If you didn't have these emotions you could be stronger. If you didn't have these emotions it wouldn't hurt so much. All you have to do to make it stop is give in. let go of your emotions. They make you weak. They it hurt. Let them go. Why don't you let them go." The mysterious voice seemed to echo around his head, taunting him, telling him that letting go of his emotions would save him. To give in. To surrender.

It was then that Sasuke remembered Naruto's seal, not sure if it would work because it's Genjutsu but will to risk it anyways, as he would do anything to get out of this; he was even considering giving up his emotions until he remembered the seal. Surging his chakra to the seal Sasuke saw the world around his fade

Away as he awoke in the same room, yet it was dark inside and there was what looked to be an IV in his arm and a bed pan that led to a bag on the side of the chair that seemed to be partially filled.

**AN: Graphic Scene over**

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Hinata's Genjutsu world:

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Hinata was in the middle of the Hyuga clan grounds. Around her was the entire clan and they were all glaring at her. Finally after what seemed like weeks her father spoke "Hinata, you are a disgrace and failure. I would banish you from the clan, but I am sure I can find some sort of use for you; perhaps you will do a good job cleaning the toilets? No matter what happens you are here today to be branded."

Trying to escape Hinata found herself tightly bound, but not by members of the clan, but by the two closest people. The first was her sister, who she loved beyond life itself, her last remnant of her mother in this world. While the second was someone worse. It was her one true love. The boy she had fallen for all those years ago at the introductory day of the Academy. Uzumaki Naruto. Yet instead of his kind face that he always showed her, was a face full of hatred, anger and rage. "What a failure you are Hinata, You are incredibly weak. You don't deserve to live, let alone kiss the ground I walk on, especially not dare to love me. How dare you. You are nothing but a miserable failure. How could you ever think I would love you, or even care for you in the most miniscule manner? Oh what's that? You thought that I actually liked you? You thought wrong, the only reason I appeared to care for you was if you failed my team would be failed. But luckily thanks to your dad I don't have to worry about that. And for helping him out here he's giving me a special reward. After you've been sealed I will be engaged to Hanabi, the heir of the Hyuga clan."

Hinata broke down in tears "No…that can't be…I love you Naruto-kun!"

Naruto let go of her with out of his hands, but just as her hope started to rise he slapped her hard with it. "Bitch, I don't care about you, you are worthless to me. Seal her already old man"

Turning to face her father he saw his hand, covered in a sickly green looking chakra, approaching her head. Then she withered in searing pain as he burnt the caged bird seal into her forehead with the chakra, forever branding her.

This however was not the worst of the dream. The second the pain lifted Hinata opened her eyes to see her father stepping backwards. Before she could say anything he put his hands in a seal, the seal for the caged bird seal. In an instant she felt like her brain was been fried as the seal began its job of torturing its victim. Then after what seemed like an eternity he stopped. And her sister started. Then her cousin Neji. The clan elders, and then everyone else in the clan. Finally it came down to one last person. Naruto stood in front of her with his hand in the seal for the caged bird seal and said "Goodbye Hinata, and Good riddance to bad trash." Before activating the seal, that sent chakra surging through her brain once again, slowly frying the neurons one at a time.

After what seemed to her life times of endless pain, a voice called out to her. "If you hadn't fallen in love you would have been stronger. If you were stronger you could have lived. If you didn't have these emotions you could be stronger. If you didn't have these emotions it wouldn't hurt so much. All you have to do to make it stop is give in. let go of your emotions. They make you weak. They it hurt. Let them go. Why don't you let them go." The mysterious voice seemed to echo around her head, taunting him, telling him that letting go of his emotions would save her. To give in. To surrender.

The Hinata remembered the seal, the seal that the real Naruto, her Naruto-kun, placed on her. Surging her chakra and hoping that it would work even if it was Genjutsu. The world around her faded until Hinata awoke in the same room as she was put in the Genjutsu, yet it was pitch black inside, in her arms were wires connected to an IV and she had a bed pan on. Looking over she saw Sasuke was also awake.

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Naruto's mindscape:

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Unlike the other two Naruto did not end up in a Genjutsu induced horror world. Instead he ended up someone else. Somewhere that could be considered both worse, and better. Yet Naruto didn't know this. All he knew was that he was in a Dark, damp, and leaky sewer. Wondering through the dark corridors of the sewer Naruto came across a room, a room that appeared to have been sealed with large bolts. Letting his curiosity get the better of him Naruto opened the door. And with the opening of the door a rush of long suppressed memories came flooding back to him. Times when his Anbu guards were too late, when the mobs and found and tortured him. Times when he was on the brink of death, only to be brought back thanks to healing powers of the Kyuubi. As these long suppressed memories came flooding back Naruto felt, oddly, at peace. Like a missing piece of his life had been filled. It was then that he heard it. A loud unearthly roar that seemed to shake the sewers. Seeking the source of the roar Naruto came across a gigantic cavern filled with darkness. As he entered he saw a dim red light shining through what looked to be a giant's cage. As he approached the light grew brighter until he could see. The gigantic golden cage that seemed to be slightly tarnished, and the titanic red fox that sat ominously inside the cage.

As he stared at the fox the fox stared back, and then he spoke. In that one instant all Naruto's preconceptions shattered, as a loud, yet what felt oddly soft, voice rang out "I can save you and your friends."

**

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AN:**

Oooh the evil cliff-hanger no Jutsu.

About the Genjutsu, sorry that Sasuke's is quite graphic, but remember he never suffered Itachi's Tsukiyomi, so something like that would easily affect him, plus I thought it was fitting, though It had me shivering as a wrote it, and a feeling of crawling, also kinda put me off the food I was eating.

The seal Naruto used will be explained probably in the next chapter. Oh and so you know the next chapter will probably be late as I have exams on shortly along with a major assignment so I won't have as much time (so probably a 2.5-3 week wait)

As for Naruto not in the Genjutsu, that will be explained as well.

I noticed that last chapter I made a massive mistake, that has since been corrected, I had Hinata say that Naruto had referred to himself as a Jinchuriki before, but he actually just explained what a Jinchuriki is (reference is to chap 12) so in other words, Hinata now knows that Naruto contains a demon, although she doesn't want to believe it.


	18. Meeting Kyuubi and Secrets Revealed

_Last Time on A freak Event:_

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_Wondering through the dark corridors of the sewer Naruto came across a room, a room that appeared to have been sealed with large bolts. Letting his curiosity get the better of him Naruto opened the door. And with the opening of the door a rush of long suppressed memories came flooding back to him. Times when his Anbu guards were too late, when the mobs and found and tortured him. Times when he was on the brink of death, only to be brought back thanks to healing powers of the Kyuubi. As these long suppressed memories came flooding back Naruto felt, oddly, at peace. Like a missing piece of his life had been filled. It was then that he heard it. A loud unearthly roar that seemed to shake the sewers. Seeking the source of the roar Naruto came across a gigantic cavern filled with darkness. As he entered he saw a dim red light shining through what looked to be a giant's cage. As he approached the light grew brighter until he could see. The gigantic golden cage that seemed to be slightly tarnished, and the titanic red fox that sat ominously inside the cage. _

_As he stared at the fox the fox stared back, and then he spoke. In that one instant all Naruto's preconceptions shattered, as a loud, yet what felt oddly soft, voice rang out "I can save you and your friends."_

_And now the conclusion (I've always wanted to say that lol) _

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**Naruto's mindscape:**

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Naruto stared up at the mighty fox that sat behind the gates in front of him. Everyone knew the Kyuubi was big. Massive. Gigantic. Yet, no one can truly understand the sheer size of the creature until they are standing in front of it,. This was something Naruto quickly discovered. The legendary blood red fox's eyes themselves were at least twice Naruto's height. The complete shock of facing the greatest terror of the Elemental lands, and then the same beast offering to help you, caused Naruto to pause…for about five seconds before responding in the way you would expect the number one unpredictable ninja.

"What the hell are you talking about fox!" yelled a mildly enraged Naruto. 'Stupid fox, I need to be working out a way to save my friends, not wasting my time with what ever attempts you want to make at escaping.'

Yet instead of the angry roar he expected, a voice rang out throughout the sewer, a voice that almost sounded like it was smirking. Though it would be impossible to tell with the gigantic fox if it actually was smirking, or just hungry. **"Are you truly that retarded? I. Can. Help. Save. You. And. Your. Friends."**

Naruto's thoughts came to a screeching halt, "What! Um…Why would you help me and my friends?"

The great red fox parted its lips to reveal a large smile **"Oh that's simple. I plan on living at long as possible."**

Now at this point Naruto has pretty much given up on trying to understand the fox. 'What the hell is it talking about? First it wants to help me, then it says it's helping me cus it wants to live. What the heck?'

A deep laughter filled the overly large sewer. **"Are you that stupid? Do you truly not understand how this seal works?"** getting a blank glare from Naruto the mighty fox let out a low growl, and explained **"This seal is one of a kind. The symbols that form a circle surrounding the seal are not actually a part of it. They are simply instructions. When your yondaime sealed me he did not do what other mortals do and try and seal me himself. Somehow he seemed to know that it would not hold me for long. Instead he called upon one of the few beings that could overpower me. The great Shimigami himself."**

This caused Naruto to gasp for no one had truly explained how the seal worked, and finding out that his hero the yondaime had summoned the legendary Shimigami, that just made him seem so incredibly powerful. Naruto's opinion of the fourth skyrocketed when he heard the foxes next part of the explanation, yet this caused his self opinion to shrink.

"**Yet like all power there is a cost. The cost for calling upon the Shimigami is your very soul. When he has finished your request your soul is forfeited to him for eternal suffering along with all those foolish enough to call upon him, and the ones they sealed."**

'Damn I feel so stupid, how could I hate the yondaime for what he did to me. Sure I've lived a life of pain, but he. He gave up his soul for the village. I feel so guilty' thought Naruto as he berated himself for his secret hating of the yondaime over his choice to seal the fox into him.

"**Do not blame yourself little one, It is natural to hate those who cause you pain." **

Naruto just gasped and fell backwards into the water that coated the floors of the great sewer before stuttering out a reply "Y-you… c-can…r-read…m-my t-thought?"

Silence filled the great cavern, before it was filled with great laughter **"The seal may be on your stomach, but this is your mindscape…your mind. In other words when you think something your pretty much saying it. Now, no more interruptions or else."** Threatened the fox as it lifted one of its gigantic incisors so that it reflected off the light, creating a terrifying sight for our young Genin. **"Normally when one summons the Shimigami to seal something both the summoner's and the sealed's souls are eaten by the Shimigami to suffer eternal torture. However your yondaime was clearly a brilliant sealmaster for he feared that the Shimigami might not be able to hold me, that I could consume the souls of those damned inside the Shimigami and escape. Who knows if I could have gathered enough power to escape, but it would have been better then the certain death I have here. Instead in exchange for an unimaginable torture twice as severe as normal summoners get, he had the Shimigami create a prison that I could never escape and that would eventually kill me by draining my powers away until my death."**

Naruto just stared at the fox, right now his mind was spinning, well not literally as that would be very dizzying, but this was way over his head right now. But asking the stupid question on his mind "Then why aren't you trying to break free or take over my body or something?"

This just resulted in the Foxes claw to come flying through the cage bars and miss him by millimetres. Followed by an enraged growl **"Foolish mortal, Were you not paying attention, the Shimigami is more powerful then me, the only way I could possibly hope to overpower him is if I absorbed enough high powered souls from his stomach, while leaching as much of his power as I could. Behind this seal I stand no chance of challenging him, and as long as the Shimigami wishes it this seal will remain unbreakable. I could force my chakra on you, weaken the seal so that it flowed into you easily, and make it so I could possess you, but that would only hasten my death. It is impossible for my Chakra to return past this seal, once it leaves the seal it travels through your system slowly been absorbed, draining me of my power. The less inference I have with you the longer I live, and been trapped behind these bars is far superior to the endless void that awaits me when this seal finishes its job."**

Now that Naruto kinda understood 'So…the fox is saying the more of its chakra I use the faster it dies, and it wants to keep me from using its chakra to extend its life…but why would that make it want to save me and my friends?'

Letting out a growl that sounded a lot like a groan the fox answered Naruto's question **"When you are injured the seal drains my power to heal you, even if it is the most minor of cuts, it does that as not only does healing you with my chakra make your body more resistant to it, allowing you to absorb it at a faster rate, but it keeps my prison alive while draining my power. If you were to die for what ever reason the seal would drain as much of my chakra as necessary to heal what ever killed you while keeping your soul in your body. If I were to run out chakra while reviving you, you would stay dead, along with me. So I want to avoid you being injured or dying. By aiding your friends I help keep you safe, as they will protect you." 'I will make sure of that.' **The fox silently thought the last bit to itself, making sure that Naruto couldn't hear it

"ok…So how do you plan to help us?" asked Naruto, finally happy over the foxes explanations.

Grinning the red giant of a fox answered by producing two scrolls, one large one about the size of the forbidden scroll and the other about the size of Kakashi's fanged pursuit scroll, **"These two scrolls. The large one is a summoning contract, the Fox contract. No one has ever held the fox contract except for the leader of the fox clan. That is part of the reason I give you the scroll. A new leader of the fox clan can not be determined until that scroll is returned to the foxes, once you sign it and summon a fox I want you to give them the scroll and tell them that the Kyuubi has been sealed by the Shimigami and will die because of it, that should allow them to chose a new leader. If the other foxes accept it you will be the first human summoner of foxes. The second scroll however is a contract between me, you, and your two friends. If you and your teammates sign your names on this scroll in blood it will create a link through which we can communicate at close distances and get vague messages over long distances. This lets me have some contact outside of you for the remainder of my life. It will also protect your friends from the Genjutsu you were all put under, as instead of entering the Genjutsu world you would all be routed here, but it will not work all the time, so hurry in your plans for escape."**

Naruto looked at the fox sheepishly "Um…I don't know how to summon, and that second scroll seems very convenient."

This received a laugh in response, **"How to summon a Fox and the way to treat them is written at the start of the scroll. As for the second scroll, I originally created it during your wave mission so that when I finally met you I could establish perment communication to distract myself from this place, However if your friends were to sign the contact as well I would have more people to talk to. Do not worry about the people here finding out, these scrolls will only be visible to those who you want to see them."**

"One final question, why? Why did you attach Konoha?" Naruto asked the giant fox, as it didn't seem like the malicious killing machine that is described in Konoha history.

Naruto got the last answer he expected. Laughter. **"Oh, that is very simple. I. Was. Hungry!" **the fox paused for a second before continuing **"Before you get upset think, I am the biggest creature on the planet. Yet I still follow the same rules as you. Humans need to eat three times a day, So do I, expect I am hundreds of times bigger, so the time between meals is hundreds of times longer, as is the amount of food I need. The only place I can get that kind of food from is a major village like Konoha. While there are demons who kill for fun, like Shukaku, I do two things, Eat and Sleep. Oh and flatten a mountain or two for the fun of seeing how you humans react, as fear is my favourite tasting food."**

Naruto looked at the fox. The fox looked at Naruto. And Naruto thought 'damn that's actually a pretty good answer, though I don't like the part about it liking the taste of fear.'

Before anything else could be said the world swirled around Naruto, and he awoke in the same room he was put into the Genjutsu, yet this time it was pitch black and there was an IV in his arm and he had what felt like a bed pan attached.

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**SRP Genjutsu Room:

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**

Before the three newly awoken could say anything a door opened and white light flooded the room, seconds later the lights switched on and Kuroi walked into the room. He three more Kuroi's appeared, one beside each of the three members of team seven, removing the bed pans and IV wires before releasing them from the seats. The Kuroi standing at the door said "I hope you three have learnt a lesson, Secrets and the mission are more important then your comrades. Do what ever it takes to protect the village's secret and always complete your mission. Never tell your enemy anything, especially your weaknesses." Before turning and walking away, with team seven quickly following, less they be put back into the chairs and that Genjutsu again, now that Hinata and Sasuke aren't protected.

As they walked the ever changing corridors back to their room Naruto realized something he hadn't thought of during his meeting with the fox, 'DAMN! I'm going to have to tell them about the fox to explain the two scrolls. Damn, I bet they'll hate me. But I have to save them, no matter the cost.'

At the same time Hinata and Sasuke were worrying, but for a different reason 'How can we resist them if they use that Genjutsu again? Naruto-kun/san said that the seal he gave us would only work that one time.' thought Hinata and Sasuke at the same time.

After much walking, much more then when they first headed to the room, team seven arrived at their room. Kuroi opened the door before staring at team seven, the silent message of 'In your rooms, now.' Was practically shouted by the glare he gave them. Team seven immediately agreed so as to avoid been taken back to the Genjutsu room before they were ready. Once inside Naruto looked at his friends before sitting down in the chair in the centre of the room and sighing. This caused Naruto to receive odd looks from both Hinata and Sasuke, for their blonde companion was not one to sigh.

Hinata thought she had an explanation. 'He gave us both that seal, but he never put one on himself, maybe his idea of how to get around it didn't work like our seals did, maybe he had to suffer from the entire Genjutsu, Oh poor Naruto-kun.,'

Sasuke on the other hand knew his best friend better, 'He's worried, and with that sigh I think he is going to tell us something, something really really big if it worries him this much. It's almost…It's almost like he's afraid we'll hate him if he tells us…but what kind of secret could cause us to hate him?'

With another sigh Naruto turned to face his friends, 'Well, here go my friends and teammates, I hope they at least wait until we escape before they start ignoring me or trying to kill me' (1) "Guys, I have a confession I need to make. I have been keeping a secret from you since graduation. As you both know I failed my graduation test, but afterwards Mizuki approached me when I was feeling down about failing, he offered me a chance. A make up test."

Naruto paused for a bit as he shored up more confidence to continue his tale, but before he could resume Hinata cut him off "It was a trick wasn't? He tricked you for the same reason the entire villagers glare at you didn't he?"

Naruto just stared at Hinata in shock that she managed to figure it out "Yes, but let me finish, He told me about a scroll, a scroll known as the forbidden scroll. I didn't know at the time but the scroll is filled with the villages most dangerous and forbidden Jutsu. He said if I could steal the scroll and learn one Jutsu from it before I was caught then I would become a Genin, he told me about this shack in the forest where I was suppose to wait for him to find me. It was easy for me to sneak in with out anyone noticing me, I had a lot of experience, but just as I was getting the scroll O-jisan walked in on me, so I used my Oiroke no Jutsu to knock him out."

At this point Sasuke and Hinata blushed as they remembered what Naruto looked like when he did that Jutsu, with Sasuke feeling the slight urge to go get a copy of Icha Icha paradise right now.

"I looked at the first Jutsu in the scroll, and it was Kage Bunshin, since I already knew that I moved onto the second, Bunshin Daibakuha, I managed to also memorize the hand signs for the next Jutsu, Doton: Yomi Numa, which I practised how to use the next day, But just after I memorized the hand signs Iruka-sensei came and yelled at me, that's how I found out Mizuki's test was a lie. Just as I figured it out Mizuki attacked, pinning Iruka-sensei to the wall of the shack with shuriken and then proceeded to tell me…tell me the secret that I'm about to tell you, the secret that will make you like all the villagers."

Naruto sobbed out the last bit before pausing as the tears welled up 'I can't do it; I can't face the looks of hatred, not from them, not from my friends.' But just as he was about to give up Hinata hugged him.

Naruto was shocked from the sudden and unexpected contact into absolute stillness, while Hinata, trying to avoid fainting from her blush, let out hushing sounds saying "It's ok Naruto-kun I won't hate you no matter what."

Naruto felt the tears approaching, he could barley hold them in, as he said "he told me…that…that within me…Is the Kyuubi that attacked the village on my birthday!" Naruto half yelled half cried the last bit, before racing away to the bedroom, not waiting to see the looks of hatred on his friends' faces. However no matter how much he wanted to, Naruto couldn't escape his friends, as they stood in the doorway to the bedroom looking at him.

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**AN:**

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH, I'm cruel aren't I, Leaving you on two dramatic cliff hangers in a row.

Sorry everyone for week late chapter, but as I said on the last chapter, I had exams and end of schools stuff. Then when I had some spare time in-between the exams and the end of year stuff my muse went traitor on me and kept giving me ideas for stories I don't have time to write, But today was the last day of school for the year, so I have six-seven weeks of lots of spare time to write, assuming my muse doesn't go traitor again.

Little points: I'm not entirely happy with the Kyuubi scene, I'm not sure what but it just doesn't feel quite the way I wanted, but for information: The Kyuubi is not good, nor is it evil; it's just well, human. I don't mean that it's a human, I just mean its like a human, neither light nor dark. Sure it's a gigantic demon that eats villages, but it is gigantic, there's not much else that could hope to fill its hunger. As for the seal, I'm just saying that we don't know how the cannon seal works, so I'm going with that while it would kill the Kyuubi faster he decided in cannon that its worth living a shorter life for the entertainment of watching Naruto squirm about him, and the chance to be free, even if it means dying faster, was worth it. And yes there is an explanation of why my Kyuubi decided to take the road of longer life.

Naruto secret scene: I'v seen this scene done a dozen times, and I think 99.95% of them start of with something along the lines of "Do you know what day I was born on" "The day the yondaime killed the Kyuubi" "No he didn't kill the Kyuubi its sealed in me". I decided I wanted to go with something different, plus I left you with the ultimate cliff-hanger, (kinda) What are Hinata's and Sasuke's Reactions to the Secret.


	19. Reactions and Discovery

**SRP: **

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Naruto, having heard his teammates walk into the door way, slowly turns around in fear of the inevitable looks of hatred on their faces. Having turned around, Naruto starts to raise his head as he goes from looking at the floor to his friends, but before he can even take his eyes from the floor he is sent flying to the ground. Looking up to see what his former friends attack him with, he saw Not a Jutsu, or weapon of any kind, stead he saw a small blue haired girl latched onto his chest. Pausing in complete shock Naruto just stared at Hinata, but before he could even move an inch he heard something. He heard crying. Feeling the front of his shirt getting slightly wet he looked down to see that Hinata, who was holding him like her life depended on it, was crying into his chest, while saying something he couldn't quite hear. Moving his head closer to that of his blue haired teammate Naruto heard fragments of what she was crying into his chest "I…Naruto….Lo…you…not…demon…I…ve…you" Naruto couldn't work out what she was trying to say, but it was clearly something very personal, something he'd have to talk to her about later, but Naruto pushed aside those thoughts as reality set in. One of his friends, teammates, one of the closest people to him, had heard the horrible truth of the demon he contained, and yet inside of hating him like the village, shunning him like a monster, or even fearing him, she instead remained by his side. This was a moment that would be forever sketched into Naruto's memory. It was the day where someone who had never known about the Kyuubi learnt of the horrors, and accepted him, accepted him for who he was, not the demon he contained. And so in this emotion filled moment Naruto broke down in tears, but not the tears of sorrow he cried only moments before, but tears of happiness, tears of joy, for finally his secret dream had came true. Someone had accepted him for who he was.

Yet as moments do this moment passed, and with it the happiness passed as well. For when Naruto looked up at the doorway he saw not a look of acceptance from his best friend, the single closest person to him in the world, but a look of fear and horror. Sasuke had learnt of the demon, yet instead of accepting him, he feared him. And that was something that would never leave Naruto's memory either.

However at the same time Sasuke was having an internal conflict. 'Damn it. He's my best friend.' '_But inside him is the world's greatest demon. If you stay around him he'll kill you._' 'No he won't, all Naruto's ever done is try and protect me' '_Yes, but how long do you think he can hold the greatest of all demons back?'_ 'He doesn't need to hold it back; the seal holds it back for him.' '_All things fail, why do you replace storage scrolls after so many uses, seals wear down that's why.'_ 'But this seal was made by the Yondaime, It won't break!' '_How foolish are you, no man, no matter how strong is perfect, no seal, no matter how strong, is unbreakable, no demon, no matter how well contained, will remain contained!' _'I will stand by Naruto! Even if it means dying, Naruto would do the same for me!' '_You will regret it when he turns on you.'_

With that final shot the dark voice faded and Sasuke's face return from the look of fear to his normal look of friendship. However Sasuke saw the look in Naruto's eyes, the damage had been done. No matter how short a time it was he had feared Naruto, and that had wounded Naruto, far deeper then Sasuke could ever know.

After lying on the ground for a minute, recovering from the joy caused by Hinata's acceptance, and the sorrow caused by Sasuke's fear Naruto said "um, Hinata?" after getting her attention Naruto said "um, could you please…" Naruto trailed off as Hinata started blushing realizing that she was pinning him to the ground.

Faster then even the ninja eye could see Hinata was up and standing a good five metres away blushing and her stutter had returned "s-s-sorry n-n-Naruto-kun"

Standing up and dusting off both the real and the imaginary dust Naruto just smiled at Hinata "don't worry about it."

Sasuke, still feeling bad about the pain he had clearly caused Naruto, asked "So Naruto… why did you tell us about the Kyuubi?"

Pushing the pain Sasuke caused back Naruto said "Right…there was a reason for that." Naruto held out his hands and suddenly two scrolls appeared a small scroll and a larger scroll. "These were the reason."

Hinata just stared at the two scrolls that had magically appeared out of no ware, then asked "Where did you get them and what do they have to do with the Kyuubi?"

Smiling slightly Naruto said "Well, they are the solution to our problem, kinda. This big scroll is just for me, it's the fox summoning scroll…"

Naruto was cut off by Hinata before he could finish "But, why would the Kyuubi give you the fox scroll? I've never heard of a fox summoner before."

Sighing slightly at the longish answer began his explanation "Ok, I'm the first human to sign the contract, every other name on the contract belongs to the head of the fox tribe. Since the Kyuubi is sealed inside me, and will die eventually because of the seal, a new leader of the fox tribe is needed, but they can't chose one until they get the scroll. So if Kyuubi didn't give me the scroll, to hand over to the first fox I summon, it would disappear and the foxes would be unable to select a new leader."

Hinata and Sasuke just stared and said "Oh…"

Sighing again Naruto resumed his original explanation "The second scroll, is something the Kyuubi had originally created just for me, but in this situation its best if we all use it."

Sasuke, trying to avoid been left out of the conversation, asked "What does it do?"

Sighing, 'I seem to be sighing a lot' thought Naruto before answering "It forms a mind link."

Both Sasuke and Hinata just said one thing to this "Huh?"

Shaking his head and sighing Naruto answered the unsaid question of, what the hell are you talking about, "Its simple the Kyuubi originally wanted a way to communicate with me, cus he was bored and needed something to distract himself from the horrible sewer that is my mindscape. But if we all sign the contract it will form a kind of mental link, Kyuubi didn't really explain it well, but I _think_ that we will be able to communicate by thoughts, but I get the feeling it doesn't work over long distances, but that doesn't really matter here does it."

Hinata was the one to ask a question this time "But, while that sounds useful, how does it help us?"

This time Naruto smirked "Well, Kyuubi thinks that if we are put in a Genjutsu or some other form of mind control, he would be able to pull all of us into my mindscape, and not just me, to protect us. But that would only work for things like Genjutsu, I would still be the only one protected against something like a controlling seal. Although if they were going to use something like a controlling seal I think they would have used it the first time instead of that Genjutsu. Although the downside, besides having to listen to Kyuubi when he wants to talk to us, is that He's not sure it pulling you into my mindscape will work too many times, so we'll have to avoid the Genjutsu as much as possible."

Hinata and Sasuke both looked contemplative. Their thoughts however were completely different.

'Naruto-kun thinks it's the best solution, he seems to some what trust the Kyuubi, and I would be able to talk to Naruto-kun nearly any time I wanted, maybe it could help me finally tell him how I feel. Although been open to hear what ever the Kyuubi has to say sounds scary, he can't actually hurt me, only threaten. It's worth it.' Hinata thought before coming to the conclusion that it was worth the risk, and nodded at Naruto to convey her decision.

'Damn it Naruto, this is the Kyuubi you're talking about. How can he think of trusting that monster? It killed dozens of Uchiha, dozens of my family. Its malicious chakra smothered hundreds of lives during the attack, and the poisonous remnants caused many more to fall ill. How can he think of creating a mental link with that demon? Damn it. Its risk it with the demon, or become a mindless slave. I guess I've got no choice then. I'll do it.' And with that last thought Sasuke reluctantly nodded.

Placing the smaller scroll on the floor in front of them he rolled it open and saw where they were to write their names. Cutting his thumb with his teeth Naruto wrote his name on the scroll. A little unsure Hinata cut her thumb with a kunai and then wrote her name. Sasuke hesitated staring at the scroll, before deciding to get it over with and quickly cut his thumb and wrote his name down. The second he finish the scroll spun shut and disappeared.

Naruto thought to himself 'Well I wonder if it worked'

To his complete shock and surprise he heard Hinata answer "I don't know, what do you think Sasuke?"

Naruto just stared at her. Stared some more. And more staring. Followed by "How did you hear me, I never said anything?"

Hinata just looked at Naruto "I clearly heard you. Say 'well I wonder if it worked.'"

More staring before Naruto said "No…I _thought_ that, I never said that out loud." 'Ero-sasuke you there?'

"Naruto! How many times have I told you just cus I like Icha Icha paradise doesn't make me a pervert!"

Smiling Naruto looked back at Hinata "Well I guess he can hear it two, so it worked."

Suddenly a deep voice was heard in their heads

'**Yes it did indeed work'** the great voice known as the Kyuubi said, well more like growled.

That voice scared Sasuke out far more then he would like to admit, but then most people would be frightened from having a unmeasurably old demon talking to you, let alone talking to you through your mind.

Naruto just ignored the Kyuubi completely and opened the second scroll, scrolling along until he found a blank spot, looking over at the last slot with writing in it he sees that the name is written in a language he can't understand 'Kyuubi what is that language you wrote your name in?'

Despite his question he received no answer, wether it was from the great demon sleeping, ignoring him, or unwilling to answer his question, Naruto didn't know, but shrugged it off before signing his name on the scroll.

After reading the instructions on how to summon at the start of the scroll Naruto starts performing the hand signs "I, Inu, Tori, Saru, Hitsugi, Kuchiyose no Jutsu" and in front of Naruto appeared.

A small one tailed fox.

Naruto could practically hear the Kyuubi laughing at him in his head. The little kit looked up at Naruto confused "You summoned me?" Naruto nodded at the kit, which then started running around yelling "Impossible, No human has ever signed the scroll, where is the Kyuubi, where is our leader?"

Naruto just sighed, before saying "The Kyuubi gave me a message to give you, along with the scroll: 'the Kyuubi has been sealed by the Shimigami and will die because of it' and that he wants the foxes to select a new leader because of that."

The second Naruto finished the kit came to a halt, before staring up at Naruto and started crying. Feeling bad for the little thing Naruto picked it up and started stroking its head saying "shhh, its ok" over and over again. Once the fox was calmed down he said "Ok, here's the scroll, if you could give it to the right people and once you have a new leader come back here and tell me if I'm allowed to summon foxes?" the little kit just nodded, sitting on top of the scroll, just before it dispelled it self, taking the scroll with it, it said "My names kibou"

Waving goodbye to the small fox Naruto said "My names Naruto" with that the fox disappeared.

Naruto looked over at Hinata and said "Hinata-Chan, can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

Sasuke, seeing Hinata nod at Naruto's question headed out of the room, 'damn, I don't think Naruto trusts me as much as before' Sasuke thought to himself, making sure to block out the mental link.

Meanwhile in the room with Hinata and Naruto,

Naruto watched Hinata, while normally when she was around team seven she was some what confidant, especially when compared to her pre-team seven self, yet now she was fidgeting. Sighing a little at the fidgeting Naruto asked "Hinata-Chan, what were you trying to tell me before when you were crying into my chest?"

Hinata's immediate reaction was to freeze for a second while she thought about what she had said. Then turning bright red, followed by fainting.

Naruto just stared at Hinata and said "Damn, I thought we fixed that problem. Hinata, what could have gotten you so nervous that you would faint?"

Just then Hinata started moving before saying, so softly that Naruto barley caught it, "Naruto-kun, I love you to."

Naruto just stared at Hinata's prone figure before sighing and dropping down onto his bottom from standing. 'Damn, that's what was that what she was going to say to me earlier? It would explain why she was nervous, the blushing, the fainting. God, I have been a complete idiot. How could I miss that? I'm meant to be a ninja, a master of stealth and observation, yet I miss this."

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Hinata's Dream:

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"Hina-chan, I Love you, I've loved you since the day I first saw you. But I was too scared to tell you, what if you hated me like all the villagers, what if you rejected me for being a demon. I was completely terrified that you would take my heart and tear it to pieces." Said Naruto, while holding Hinata in his arms,

Hinata lovingly smiled up at him "Oh Naruto-kun, I love you to. I could never hate you; you are my hero, my very reason for existing. Yet I couldn't tell you either, I was terrified, afraid you wouldn't want a weak person like me, when there are stronger people, more beautiful people. Women I just couldn't compare to." Hinata finished by snuggling into his chest.

"Oh dear Hina-chan, you are perfect to my eyes, they are blind to all others. No matter how strong they are, no matter how beautiful they are, they could never compare to you, my own angel. That is the only word that describes you, an angel."

"Oh Naruto-kun!" Hinata said before leaning her head up and kissing him.

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Real world: SRP

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Hinata slowly opened her eyes, to find herself staring up at the ceiling. 'Why can't I ever tell him? Why am I so weak?' Hinata thought to herself before sitting up, and noticing Naruto sitting in front of her. Yet something was wrong, Naruto was staring at her, it was almost like he was trying to solve her like one solves a mystery. What could have happened to make him look at her like that? Just then Hinata had a terrible thought, followed by a flashback.

_Flashback_

_Hinata awoke to find her little sister standing over her bed, looking up at the strange look on her face Hinata asked "What's wrong Hanabi-Chan?" _

_Hanabi just continued staring before saying "Who's Naruto?" _

_Hinata's face suddenly had a confused look plastered on it "Why do you ask Hanabi-Chan?" _

_Hanabi continued staring while saying "You were talking in your sleep."_

_Hinata's face suddenly paled as she remembered just what she had been dreaming about the night before, Hinata stuttered out the question "H-how m-much d-did y-you h-hear?" _

_Hanabi just said "I only heard you moaning Naruto-kun over and over, what were you dreaming about and who is Naruto?" _

_Hinata just blushed red before saying "nothing you need to worry about Hanabi, and Naruto is a boy in my class."_

_Hanabi just stared before saying "ah" and walking away._

_End flashback_

"N-Naruto-kun. W-what d-did y-you h-hear?" Hinata stuttered out, just like she had when her sister had heard her talking in her sleep.

Naruto just said "Well. I never knew you felt that way"

At that Hinata blushed the brightest hue of red imaginable, and then some, before saying to herself 'damn there you went Hinata, you've blown it. Not only have you missed you chance, but your probably destroyed your friendship. Way to go.'

Naruto just smiled at her and said "I'm not sure if I feel the same, I know you're my best friend, but I don't know if there is any more to it. Would you mind waiting for me to try and figure out how I feel?"

Hinata felt like she was about to die from relief, letting out a relived sigh she said "I would wait forever for you Naruto-kun."

Naruto just smiled at that and what ever he was going to say was cut of as an explosion rocked the entire complex.

Jumping to fit Naruto yelled "What happened?" then a second explosion rocket the complex sending Naruto crashing to the ground. The door slid open as Sasuke came in

"The front door suddenly opened, lets go." He yelled before heading back out the door. Hinata and Naruto jumped to their feet and followed him. As they made their way through the endless corridors of the SRP complex several more explosions rocket the entire complex. One of these explosions sheared lose a metal support beam from the room, the beam came crashing to the ground in front of team seven. Before they could jump over it a second came swinging down from the room. Heading straight for Hinata.

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AN:**

Ooh that cruel, will Hinata survive? I'm sure that people will have questions, and I'll be happy to answer them, assuming it doesn't give away anything important.

Oh and look forward to Christmas boys and girls, for I should have another chapter out on Christmas day or Christmas Eve depending on your time zone.


	20. Attack on Konoha

**SRP: Corridor:

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When Hinata the support beam came swinging towards her she froze, and her life flashed before her eyes. Shutting her eyes, not willing to watch as death swung towards her, Hinata's last thoughts were of Naruto 'So this is how it ends, barley a minute after I admit my love to Naruto, I'm going to die. At least I can die knowing that he knows how I feel.' The moments dragged on, then she felt something hit her, and Hinata was sent flying, before coming to a suddenly halt when she contacted with the wall. Yet, instead of the unimaginable pain or numbness that she expected, Hinata only felt a slight pain where she hit the wall. Then all of a sudden a sickening SNAP was heard, Hinata opened her eyes just in time to see Naruto come crashing to the ground, the left side of his chest crushed inwards. A loud gasp was heard as Hinata realized what had just happened. Just had knocked her out of the way, and took to the blow instead, and that the snapping sound was his ribs snapping. Rushing over Hinata stared in muted horror. There was a clear depression in his chest where the ribs had snapped and were no longer holding his chest up. It seemed that Naruto was incredible pain, yet when Hinata activated her Byakugan all the keirakurei were in the right places, so she knew that none of the blood vessels or organs that the Keirakurei were wrapped around had moved out of place. There was no signs of internal bleeding, so Hinata had to assume Naruto was the single luckiest person alive, as he had seven of his ribs, on one side, snap off, yet receive no secondary injuries as a result. Though Hinata wondered for a minute what that thin lining of red chakra that seemed to be gathering around the area of the wound was, until she realized that it was probably the Kyuubi attempting to heal Naruto.

Picking Naruto up as gently as possible, while trying hard to avoid damaging his ribs any more, or causing him more pain, Hinata started running to catch up to Sasuke who was keeping a hole in the wall clear for them. Once she got to the wall Hinata saw the sewers of Konoha. She could tell it was the sewers of Konoha as they had the big Konoha symbol along the walls. Jumping in, making sure to brace Naruto, Hinata headed for the nearby ladder that lead to the street access, with Sasuke close behind her. The task of climbing the ladder while carrying Naruto was difficult beyond words, but when Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata reached the surface they could only stare in shock and horror.

For all around them Konoha was in flames. There were dead bodies everywhere, ninja and civilian alike. The once great and impenetrable wall of Konoha had fallen to the attacks of a tri-headed snake. But worst of all, in the centre of the civilian district, where the majority of Konoha's hotels were, was a gigantic Tanuki. A being of that size, and power, could only be one thing. It was a Biju, and based on the number of tails it was the Ichibi. Naruto, forced out of his pain induced motionlessness yell through his link to the Kyuubi 'Can your chakra heal me enough to fight?'

A deep voice replied, only in his head, '**Yes, but drawing upon my chakra would force your body to regrow the broken parts of your ribs, not only would this hurt even worse then right now, but it will also make the surgery later, to remove the broken parts of your ribs, harder to perform." **

Naruto just said in a perfectly calm voice 'Do it.'

All of a sudden the Kyuubi's Chakra rushed into Naruto's system. As he felt the bones in his chest begin to grow, Naruto screamed in pain, the fox had warned him that it would hurt more, but had hadn't believed him. Hinata and Sasuke tore their eyes from the gigantic Tanuki rampaging in Konoha to look at Naruto. Using Hinata's shock to his advantage Naruto escaped Hinata's hold and said to his teammates "Go, help our fellow Shinobi, while we may have been imprisoned in that evil place, not all the Shinobi are responsible."

Hinata looked at him with fear in her eyes as she asked "What about you?"

Smiling his foxy grin at her Naruto said "Me? I'm going to do what I do best, take down a raging demon." Naruto started flashing through five hand seals in a flash, before Hinata could yell out her objection or to stop, Naruto had finished the sequence and slammed his right hand on the ground. A gigantic puff filled the air, when it cleared it revealed an equally large four tailed fox. Looking around the fox immediately realized it had been summoned, knowing there was only one person who could summon him, the great fox said **"Uzumaki Naruto, What is it you wish of me?"**

This stunned everyone, Hinata and Sasuke were stunned Naruto could summon such a great creature, All the Shinobi across the village were stunned that summon had summoned a, well summon, even more so when they saw it was a fox. The Civilians, well they just ran faster, while screaming in fear, at the appearance of a gigantic fox, as it brought back many memories of one day 12 years ago. But most of all Naruto was stunned that the fox was acting like it was waiting for orders, he expected many things, but a fox waiting for orders he didn't expect. Naruto however was able to quickly shake off the shock and said "I Need to stop that Tanuki from destroying the village." While pointing at the Biju, although it was kinda unnecessary as he was vary hard to miss.

The four tailed fox merely said **"As you command."** Before any could think of what was happening fire appeared on the tips of all four of the fox's tails. After a second of looking awe inspiring the fire shot towards the Ichibi. Resulting in him screaming in pain. What happened next was completely unexpected. The Ichibi dropped to the ground and started rolling. "Damn. We need to get him out of Konoha."

Before Naruto could say anything else the fox said **"Hold on."** Before leaping towards the Tanuki and wrapping his tails around it. The Ichibi struggled, and as he was struggling he noticed that there was a shape on his head, a human boy. Just before Naruto could say anything the legs of the fox he was riding on turned deep red and he shot into the air, dragging the Ichibi with him. The came to a sudden and heavy landing in the forests surrounding Konoha, a place were it was safe to hold a battle of this magnitude.

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In Konoha: With Hinata and Sasuke:

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It had been seconds since Naruto had summoned the four tailed fox and went to engage the gigantic demon attacking Konoha, yet in that time frame dozens of sound Nin had surrounded Hinata and Sasuke. Poor sound Nin. Hinata and Sasuke only spared each other a glance before standing back to back. That was when the first two sound Nin came running head on, a mistake even a rookie Genin shouldn't have made. Sasuke was the first to strike, a simple application of Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu, the witless sound Nin was left with a hole burnt through his left kidney, effectively removing him from the fight.

Hinata's attack came seconds after Sasuke's; only due to the fact she needs to be in close range for the application of Juken. The foolish sound nin had approached far too close to a Juken user like Hinata, he had been aiming for a kunai duel, he instead received a Juken strike to the middle of the right hand wrist, followed by a second Juken blow to the armpit of the left arm, to prevent attack from that direction as well, finishing up with a Juken strike to his heart, liquefying it.

The sudden death, or near death in the case of the Nin who challenged Sasuke, was enough to make the remaining ten cautious. Yet not all of the sound ninja possessed the intelligence to comprehend how dangerous the two Genin in front of them were, that combined with arrogance clouding their own judgement of their skills, resulting in two more sound ninja heading to their deaths. These two headed straight in like the others, but just as they reached the point where their two comrades had been previously slain, they leapt into the air, while going through hand seals. They weren't fast enough. Before the sound ninja above Hinata could finish his second hand sign three kunai were heading for him. Caught up in his Jutsu, he didn't notice the kunai until it was too late to use a Kawarimi and because you can't dodge in air, he ended up with a kunai in at the end of the middle of the ribcage, one just above his heart, and a cut along him scalp, where the third kunai had cut. While the final wound wasn't fatal, the other two were. The ninja was dead before he hit the ground. Sasuke's opponent, having jumped into the air a second before his compatriot had time to finish his hand seals, before he saw a ball of what appeared to be lightning hit him straight in the chest. The ball then proceeded to tear its way straight through he mans chest and out the other side.

Now with a third of the ninja the sound squad had arrived with down they started to be a lot more then cautious of the two brats in front of them. However before they could think about their next move Sasuke asked Hinata "Ready?" to which she replied "yes." And before the sound nin could do anything about it the counterattack had began, Hinata slid into the correct stance before saying "Jukenpo: Hakke Hyaku Nijuhachi Sho." This was followed by Hinata shooting forwards at a speed the two sound ninja she had targeted had no hope of escaping from. Striking them in sequence she counted off "Two palms." Switched to the other one "Four palms" and continued until she reached "one hundred and twenty eight palms." Hinata finished off her attack by strike each ninja once more, this time liquefying the heart.

On the other side of the street Sasuke found his opponents to be completely worthless, not even worthy of the rank Genin. Sasuke's attack had been simple, while Hinata slid into her Juken stance, Sasuke had started performing hand seals, once completed he said "Katon: Nihokiri" and rushed towards the two ninja, and ending their lives by putting his hands through their hearts. A double instant kill. As the lifeless bodies of the four sound Nin dropped to the ground, the remaining four ninja stared on in horror. Two of the sound Nin attempted to flee, screaming something about not risking their lives like this for Orochimaru. However before they could make it more then twenty metres they were cut down from behind, by a Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu, preformed by Sasuke. This left it two on two. However unlike the deceased sound Nin, these two were upper Chunin level, a much different pray then the Genin level cannon fodder that made up the majority of Orochimaru's sound army.

A stare down between the two sound ninja and Hinata and Sasuke started, and then seemed to drag on for hours. A piece of debris fell from one of the buildings on the side of the street, when it hit the ground it kicked up a cloud of dust that obscured the view of the four ninja, when the dust cleared the ninja were gone. Only to appear a sound later when the metallic clang of kunai meeting each other was heard. Sasuke was facing off with a ninja of average height, wearing the standard sound clothing. However this ninja was not using a standard kunai, instead he wielded a two pronged blade. Jumping back Sasuke threw his kunai at the sound ninja as he started performing hand seals. However the sound ninja was expecting this as used his blade to block the kunai, when they impacted instead of the normal metallic cling there was instead a deafening screech. Sasuke stopped his seals and dropped to the ground in pain, holding his hears. When he removed his hands from his ears he found blood on them. The sound ninja looked down at him, and Sasuke could tell he was smirking under the mask as he said "How do you like my blade? It's a fusion between a Tuning fork and a kunai, designed to give off a high pitched screech that would both inflict pain upon my opponents and, if close enough, shatter their ear drums. Looks like you were just the right distance.

Sasuke could tell the sound ninja was correct, for when he tried to stand he found his world spinning, a clear sign of the lack of balance provided by the inner ear. However Sasuke did manage to put his hands in a cross shaped seal that his best friend loved to use. Seconds later a clone appeared in a puff of smoke. The clone stumbled towards the sound ninja, who just laughed at the pathetic thing. After about thirty seconds of stumbling the clone fell at the feet of the sound ninja. Who then proceeded to gloat saying "Good, that's exactly where all you Konoha ninja should be, bowing at my feet." However his gloating was interrupted when the clone suddenly sprung up and latched itself onto him. Sasuke smirked as the clone glowed bright yellow before exploding as Sasuke said "Bunshin Daibakuha." Standing up slowly Sasuke walked over to the charred sound Nin, and smirked before giving the sound Nin a nice kunai to the forehead.

Hinata's battle went significantly easier. Hinata just stood still while she waited for the sound Nin to kill her. Seconds before the kunai struck she blocked it with her left hand, leaving a nasty gash, while at the same time used her right hand to land a strike to the mains heart, killing him instantly. Although this strategy did work in killing the ninja fast, it left Hinata with a long deep cut along the palm of her hand. Luckily for Hinata she had learnt a little medical Jutsu from Kakashi, in case Naruto ever got hurt.

This now left the two Genin alone, once again, in the middle of a street in Konoha during an invasion. Hinata turned to face Sasuke before nodding once and flickering away, with Sasuke close behind her. They were heading towards the east gate, where there were legions of both sound and sand ninja flooding through the gates and into Konoha. However before they could reach the gates they were stopped. By two sand ninja and unlike the sound they knew they had a fight on their hands. Both of these ninja were Jonin of Sunagakure. A village renowned for having the highest quality ninja. This was going to be the battle of their lives. A battle they might just not win.

**

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Konoha Forests: With Naruto and the Ichibi

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**

Naruto stood atop the large four tailed fox, staring down the Ichibi, however, during his stare down he noticed a person on the head of the Ichibi. The four tailed fox noticed it as well and answered Naruto's unasked question **"That kid is the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi; the seal must be pretty weak because I think he is just asleep. If that's true we should be able to force back the demon if we can wake the Jinchuriki."**

Looking between the fox and the Ichibi Naruto asked "And how would we go about waking the Jinchuriki, I doubt he'd get up if I went over and asked him nicely."

The great four tailed fox did something unexpected, it chuckled **"Of course not, Physical pain should be enough to wake the child however; enough to cut him slightly should do the trick." **

While Naruto and the fox were talking, the Ichibi was getting upset, first it had finally been set free to reek as much havoc as it wanted, and then this fox came along and set it on fire. Not only did that hurt, but it nearly woke up the brat. Then they dragged him out here to the middle of the forests where he can't kill anyone, and then they ignored him. This really pissed off the gigantic Tanuki which then proceeded to yell **"YOUR DEAD!" **before taking a deep breath and hitting its stomach while screaming **"Futon: Renkudan." **As it shot several bullets of air at Naruto and the fox.

Just as the fox finished talking it noticed the air bullets, and with out having a chance to warn Naruto to hang on it jumped out of the way. However the Ichibi was expecting this, and fired a three more air bullets up at the fox. This time there was nothing he could do. As the bullets approached Naruto asked "can't you do something?"

To which the great fox replied **"No I am a Firefox, my fire attacks would be sent back at us stronger if they hit the air bullets. However…"** what ever else he was going to say was cut off as the air bullets struck him, each one creating an explosion greater then the last. The area where the fox had been was covered in a thick black smoke.

**

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AN:**

Katon: Katon: Nihokiri: aka (I think) Fire style: two flame blades. – A ranked assassination technique.

A Jutsu, that is similar to the Raikiri and Chidori in that it consists of focused element chakra to form a sort of blade, however unlike Chidori and Raikiri does not generate much noise or require anywhere near as much chakra. However the Jutsu lacks the cutting power of the Chidori or the Raikiri as it relies on the heat of the flames to melt its way through a target, as such it requires more time and force to strike a target, because of this the Jutsu is only really affective on unarmoured flesh, while clothes won't interfere with the Jutsu any form or armour or similarly solid structure would. A secondary risk is that unless the user has a lot of experience manipulated fire elemental chakra, and experience with the Jutsu, it will cause burns on the hands that the Jutsu were in, the severity of the burns would depend on how long the Jutsu was active. The final risk of using the Jutsu is that like the Chidori or Raikiri, the Nihokiri causes tunnel vision, so use by doujutsu lacking ninja is unadvisable.

I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of questions about this, especially seeing as i wrote this with less then five hours sleep, but meh. As for the sound invasion timing, It is the first day of the Chunin exams, (works with the timeline that i'm using) the reason the attack is now, is because Orochimaru found out about the SRP and stepped up his plans, for the simple reason that the whole reason he delyed his attack to the chunin finals was because he wanted to test Sasuke. However now the defences of Konoha are weaker (No Jiriya) as they wern't expecting an attack now.


	21. Battles

**Konoha Forests:**

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**

The thick cloud of black smoke plummeted into the ground, leaving a large area of forest obscured by rock. The Ichibi let loose a horrific laugh **"Yahoo baby, I got them. Now to get back to that town."** However the Ichibi was forced to halt its plans when the thick black smoke came streaming towards him, out of the smoke came the four tailed fox, with Naruto riding safely atop its head. Growling the fox swiped its claws at the Ichibi, dodging back the claws sliced through the Ichibi's left shoulder. While that normally wouldn't be enough to sever the shoulder, trailing behind each of the claws was a stream of white hot flames. These flames instantly melted the sand, turning it to glass. This sudden brittleness resulted in the shoulder shattering and the arm that went with it falling off, before dissolving away into loose sand.

The Ichibi let out a mighty roar, for while it could not feel any pain in its artificial sand body, it was angered by the loss of an arm, and the survival of its enemy. In its rage the Ichibi did not attack with a wind ball, but instead summoned the sand from its fallen limb, the sand whirled and whirled, until it finally coalesced into a spear. The second the spear finished forming it shot forwards, straight towards the four tailed fox.

Caught in awe of the Ichibi's control over the sands the fox failed to react to the spears deadly approach. Luckily for Naruto the fox noticed the spear, and its deadly intent, seconds before impact. This allow him to dodge to the left, however due to the delayed nature of this dodge, there was a large gash along the right of the fox, trailing the length of its chest. This injury enraged the fox, who proceeded to yell to Naruto **"Uzumaki Naruto, we must deal with this pest now. I will hold him down so you can jump at him. Do not miss."**

With the conclusion of its order the fox surged forwards, however the Ichibi was not a dumb as its drunken attitude would lead many to believe. The Ichibi shot to the left, having heard the foxes plan and having absolutely no intent on going back to the broken down prison that was its Jinchuriki's mind. Taking in a deep breath as the fox lunged at it again, the Ichibi brought its remaining arm down towards his stomach, slamming the hand into his gut he yelled** "Futon: Renkudan" **which sent an air bullet flying towards the fox, who proceeded to dodge out o f the way.

However the Ichibi had expected this, and the sand spear that had merely left floating after its attack on the fox, stabbed into its side. Letting loose a mighty roar of pain the fox drove towards the Ichibi, determined that if it was going down they both were. Despite the immense pain of the spear still lodged in its side the fox latched onto the Ichibi, biting into its stomach and latching onto its shoulders, or what left of its shoulder in the case of the left shoulder.

The Ichibi was not content to let this fox get the better of him, so the Ichibi dissolved its sand spear, into the wound of the fox. Its sand spreading throughout the blood vessels of the fox, each grain acting as a mini razor blade, slicing the insides of the great fox to pieces. It smirked in joy as the fox let out another roar of pain as its sand tore through the foxes kidneys.

However the four tailed fox was resilient, and gave one final command **"NOW!" **and with that command Naruto launched from the head of the fox straight for the exposed Jinchuriki atop the Ichibi's head. Coming crashing down Naruto landed a mighty punch across the right cheek of the Ichibi's Jinchuriki. While this normally wouldn't have been enough to awaken the Jinchuriki this late in the possession, the wind blade that surrounded his fist was. As the fist made its way down the Jinchuriki's cheek it sliced a deep cut, all the way through the thin film of flesh separating the outside of the cheek with the inside of the mouth. Howling in pain the Ichibi yelled **"NO I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK!" **Yet driven back it was, as the scribble that the Kazekage called a seal activated forcing the demon down and rousing the Jinchuriki.

The moment it heard the Ichibi's cry of pain the fox knew its master had succeeded, and it collapsed to the ground at the feet of the Ichibi. Its wounds too severe to allow it to return to the summon world. This left the critically wounded and dying fox stranded in the mortal plane. Watching as the Ichibi's body thrashed as the Ichibi was forced down by the Jinchuriki's seal the fox had an idea. It began focusing all its chakra on a last desperate attempt to save its life.

Meanwhile with atop the Ichibi's head the Ichibi's Jinchuriki's eyes snapped open. 'What happened? Where am I? Why am I still atop Shukaku?' these were the first three thoughts that ran through the head of the newly awakened Jinchuriki. However they wouldn't last more then a fleeting moment, for after that moment something else entered his mind. Something he had never felt before. Pain, unimaginable pain, something the young boy had never felt in his entire life. Crying out the boy yelled "WHAT IS THIS? IS THIS PAIN?" as his hands shot towards the source of the pain, he felt something wet, removing one of his hands from the mind numbing pain he saw they were covered in a red liquid. Blood. His blood. "BLOOD! MY BLOOD!" and with a crazed look he searched for the source of this blood and the pain that came with it. And he found it, in the form of rapidly approaching Naruto. Focusing all his hatred towards this boy, the boy who had caused him this pain, the Ichibi's Jinchuriki raised his right arm in the direction of the boy and as it raised so did the sand around the boy.

Naruto suddenly stopped, or rather was suddenly stopped, as he felt sand wrap around him. Looking up from the sand he saw a murderous Jinchuriki looking straight at him. As soon as their eyes locked the Ichibi's Jinchuriki began closing his hand and while saying "Sabaku soso". At the same time Naruto's life flashed before his eyes, his early childhood, his time with Kakashi, then the times after Sasuke joined, his time on team seven, then a final vision, a vision of Hinata saying just three words "I love you."

'I can't die, I can't let them die, I have to protect them, I have to protect my friends, my village, my home! I won't die, I WONT FAIL THEM!' it was then that Naruto started fighting, even though he was already trapped. Even though he was probably going to die. He wasn't going to give up, there were people counting on him and he wasn't going to let them down, and he knew there was only one way to save them.

'Fox, please?' his small request, that sounded almost like he was begging to the fox, was left unanswered. However, just before the sand constricted, blood red chakra rushed out of his, sending the sand flying. And somewhere deep inside his mind, a gigantic blood red fox smiled.

With his new found strength and speed Naruto shot towards the Ichibi's Jinchuriki, however he was stopped again, this time mere inches from his target, as more sand wrapped around his legs arms. Struggling against the sand restrains he surged all his remaining chakra, along with all of the Kyuubi's and slammed his head down, right into the head of the Ichibi's Jinchuriki. They both stood still for a moment; time itself seemed to pause in anticipation. And as a trickle of blood flowed down the forehead of the Ichibi's Jinchuriki the sand construct on which they stood began to crack. The cracks spread, until the entire construct fell apart. The two boys came crashing down, on the tops of opposite trees. Both of them exhausted, Naruto having used the Kyuubi's charka earlier to heal massive injuries, then summoning a four tailed fox, then his fight with the Ichibi's Jinchuriki, Gaara, having been possessed by the Ichibi for the longest time yet. Yet they both stood up. Both looked each in the eye as if sending an invisible message saying 'one last shot.' And they both leapt towards each other. Naruto, calling upon the very last of his chakra, managing to surge ahead of Gaara, landing the final blow against Gaara's left cheek, sending him crashing to the ground, Naruto right behind him.

As they lay on the ground, Naruto began to wiggle, inching closer and closer to Gaara, who was panicking yelling "NO, I won't let you end my existence, how can you be so strong."

Naruto just continued inching towards Gaara, but this time smiling as he said "I am strong because I have people I wish to protect. People I would give my life for a hundred times over. Only when you are protecting someone who is precious to you can you become truly strong."

However just as he said that Gaara's siblings, having chased him into the forest after he was taken their by the fox, landing next to him. Battle ready, yet Gaara just muttered a "No." they both turned to look to him and he finished by saying "Lets go home."

Not willing to go against their brother Temari and Kankurou just picked him up by the shoulder and headed towards the pre-planned egress point. On the way Gaara looked up and said "Temari, Kankurou, Thank you." This left the two of them stunned, had his battle with that boy really changed him so much?

Naruto's rescue however came in a different form. A large man with long white hair appeared next to Naruto, smiling, before saying "Good job Naruto." To the semi-unconscious Naruto just as he picked Naruto up however he saw something. A small red fox was running straight towards Naruto. The man stared at the fox before saying "Want to come?" to which the fox responded by jumping on top of Naruto's head. Chuckling slightly the man carried Naruto, with the fox on his head, back to Konoha, all the while thinking 'Well, this will be interesting.'

**

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Konoha: With Hinata and Sasuke:

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**

Hinata glanced at Sasuke before nodding, sending an unspoken message of 'I'll take the left you take the right.' As they separated Hinata was the first one to begin her battle. Fainting a Juken strike at his left Hinata went for a strike to his left shoulder, intending on paralysing him in that arm, however the sand Shinobi was expecting this and grabbed her wrist, before twisting it violently, a sickening snap was heard as Hinata cried out in pain, jumping back her right hand hanging loosely, a clear sign that the wrist was broken, yet Hinata didn't let this deter her, while the sand ninja had greatly weakened her Taijutsu style and completely erased her ability to use the few Jutsu she knew, he did not take her out of the battle. Determined Hinata grabbed three shuriken from her shuriken holster before throwing them at the enemy, as expected he blocked with a kunai, this is when Hinata shot forwards with her own kunai in hand. However just before they clashed she threw her kunai at the Jonin's leg, despite the surprise caused by her unexpected tactics the Jonin managed to dodge, having started to jump backwards when he saw Hinata's arm tensing in the wrong direction for a kunai battle. This caused Hinata to pause momentarily, as she had not been expecting the Jonin to react in time. This paused gave the Jonin time to make up his lost ground, by the time Hinata had awoken from her thoughts of shock the Jonin was in front of her, swinging his kunai down for a strike. Dodging to the right Hinata began to strike with her left hand towards the mans exposed chest, while she did manage to land a strike to the bottom of the mans lung, causing him to start coughing, he had swung around and landed a nasty slice along her left arm.

Jumping back Hinata let out a whimper of pain before throwing a kunai with an explosive tag at ground in front of the sand Jonin, while he did dodge backwards away from the explosion with out receiving any injuries, it did buy Hinata enough time to hastily apply a medical wrap to the cut, while this did mean she wouldn't have to worry about blood loss, at lest not in the near future, it would further reduce her combat efficiency by limiting her range of movement in her left arm. Hinata realized this was bad, she couldn't use her right hand for Juken due to her broken wrist, and she couldn't move her left arm that well, left Hinata in a situation where not only could she not use any Nin or Genjutsu but she could hardly use any Taijutsu. Realizing this Hinata realized there was only one hope for her to actually win this battle, if she could land a strike with her water chakra Juken that she had been experimenting with, it might cause enough damage to take her opponent out of the fight. 'That might work, but I'd need to use all my chakra, as I'm not got at water chakra Juken. I wish Naruto-kun was here, he'd know what to do.' However Hinata managed to put aside her doubts and do what was needed. Diving forwards she tossed three more shuriken at the sand nin before pulling out a kunai, as she reached knife distance she swiped at his kunai, this left the two of them in a blocking position, with her opponent having the advantage due to height. Hinata did something completely unexpected. She let go of her kunai, this caused her opponents kunai to come slicing down, cutting a nasty cut from her collar-bone down to mid stomach area. However this sacrifice was not in vain, as while the kunai was swinging down, and her opponent off balance from the sudden loss of resistance, she managed to land a water chakra strike to the mans right lung. While a Juken strike to the lung wouldn't normally kill a person, leave them injured and unable to breath in that lung yes but kill no, this was water Juken. What was special about Juken using water nature chakra was that the water nature chakra tended to affect water like substances, such as blood. This resulted in a massive explosion of blood both within and without of the mans lung. In mere seconds his right lung began to fill with blood, while he was loosing a large amount into his chest cavity due to the ruptures to the blood vessels on the outside of the lung.

While this was happening Hinata dropped to the ground face first, having suffered to many injuries to remain standing, that last one been quite a deep cut, that would most likely be fatal if she didn't get medical attention shortly. As her vision began to darken, she saw that the sand ninja was raising his kunai, prepared to deliver the death blow, however he suddenly stopped and dropped to the ground with a kunai sticking out of the back of his head, and a man with long white hair carrying a boy with blond hair, stopped next to her, and that was all she saw before passing into unconsciousness.

**

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With Sasuke:

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**

Sasuke's battle began moments after Hinata's with Sasuke's opponent starting off by charging in and swinging at Sasuke. While it was clear to Sasuke that his opponents strike would clearly miss him, that's what worried him, 'Why would a Jonin attack like that? He can't be that bad and be ranked a Jonin.' That's when Sasuke saw it, a slight haze that extended in front and behind the mans hand. Realizing what it was Sasuke jumped backwards, mentally yelling 'A wind sword!', the second Sasuke touched the ground he jumped again, for his opponent was fast and had already started striking his new position. This happened twice more until on the fifth jump Sasuke that that his opponent was not moving forwards like before, he was going through hand signs, realizing that he had been tricked by the pattern Sasuke knew that there was not much he could do, he couldn't dodge because he was midair, he couldn't use any of his lightning Jutsu as the wind Jutsu would shred right through them. He had but one choice, fire Jutsu, however if his Jutsu wasn't powerful enough the wind would overcome his flames inertia and he would have his Jutsu returned to him, but stronger. This called for his strongest fire Jutsu, beginning his hand signs, Sasuke completed his, skipping a few control hand signs for time, at the same time as the sand Jonin completed his. They both launched their attacks at the same time "Katon: Karyu Endan." "Futon: Renkudan."

The compressed air bullet shot towards the approaching fire dragon tearing into the dragon's head, for a moment it almost seemed like the wind bullet would consume the dragon and press on, yet the dragon with its large size and continued stream of fire provided by Sasuke managed to overwhelm the wind bullet and grow stronger. This strength came at the cost of its former speed. The much more powerful, but slower, dragon was easily dodged by the sand Nin, although the area affects were not so easily dodged. A few embers met with the Jonin's head wrap, igniting it, this forced the Jonin to pause while he pulled it off. This moment pause was enough time to give Sasuke an advantage; however he wasted this advantage by throwing several kunai because he didn't expect the Jonin to be able to dodge. He was wrong, by the time the Jonin had removed his head wrap the kunai were a mere second away from impact, this however was enough time for the experienced sand Jonin to perform a Kawarimi and escape.

Not expecting this Sasuke was surprised by the Jonin sudden replacement with a wooden log and as such was caught unaware by the surprise attack he mounted. This surprise attack resulted in Sasuke receiving two kunai in the back, both to his heart. Luckily for Sasuke however he had a rare medical condition called Dextrocardia where the heart is on the right side of the chest instead of the left. While this saved his life it still resulted in the two kunai puncturing his lung instead, still a potentially deadly wound but not certainly fatal like puncturing your heart. As Sasuke collapsed to the ground, the sand nin assumed that Sasuke was dead, decided to take Sasuke with him as his village could find a way to replicate the Sharingan with his corpse. This would prove fatal to our unwitting sand nin, as the second he picked up Sasuke he received a kunai to the heart. Just before Sasuke's vision faded to black he smiled slightly that he had managed to kill the Jonin.

Just as Sasuke fell into unconsciousness the white haired man with Naruto and Hinata under his arms saw Sasuke on the ground. Groaning slightly he picked up the injured boy and threw him over his shoulder, making sure not to move the kunai, before heading to the villages emergency hospital, used only during invasions.

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AN:**

Well that's that, a mysterious white haired man has Naruto Sasuke and Hinata and is taking them to the hospital. Who is this mysterious man (kinda obvious), what about that fox? And what happened with Orochi and Sarutobi? Find out next time.

oh and sorry this chapters late, i had a collision with real life, but what can you do? that and i'v been playing out how i want the encounter of Saru and Orochi to go, as Saru is going to survive.

In response to the questions I'm going to certainly get, or maybe not after you read this,

Naruto's fight: yes his fight was harder then the one with Gaara in cannon, despite Naruto been both stronger and summoning a more powerful summon, (A four tailed fox has to trump bunta) but think of it like this, Shukaku was out for the entire battle, as well as ten or so minutes before hand, and if you pay attention during the battle in cannon you'll notice not only is Shukaku getting stronger as the battle wears on, but bunta even comments on that. I reasoned that the longer Gaara is asleep the more control Shukaku gains and the easier it is to control his body, the more chakra he has available, and generally the smarter he is, you can think of his sealed state as kinda like been asleep, your not (majority here) ready to fight the second you wake up, it takes time to awaken properly and start thinking.

Hinata and Sasuke's fight: These are Sand Jonin they are fighting, Sand Shinobi are the most elite of the five villages, they have to be. Sand live under the harshest conditions (Lets see, Kumo is up a mountain, Konoha is in the open, Kiri is on an island surrounded by water and mist, and Iwa is surrounded by rocks.) none of the other villages are in an environment where every minute is life and death, well cept kiri cus of their civil war but their weak cus of the in fighting kills their strongest. On top of this Sand is restricted in the number of Shinobi they are allowed to have, both by environment and their own Daimyos restrictions. The limited number of Shinobi and harsh environment they live in means they have to be the best if they hope to compete with the other villages.

While Hinata and Sasuke have fought Jonin level opponents before, they were not only low Jonin level, but they won under special circumstances (Hinata blood lust + surprise and Sasuke unlocked the fourth level of the Sharingan (doesn't know he did that yet or how he did that) and Haku was only Jonin level thanks to his high speed (only a Jonin should be able to fight against that speed level)

Water chakra Juken: the principle is simple, magnetism. Kinda, the way it works is when the Juken strike is landed the water chakra is dispersed through the chakra system around the strike location, while it is dispersing it acts just like a magnet to the water in blood, this tears the blood out of the blood vessels resulted in massive ruptures around the path the chakra took. While this is in a limited area as not only is the chakra dispersing through the network in the area, but it is losing power as it pulls out the blood. In a area like the arms or the legs it wouldn't cause that much damage, but the chakra network around organs is much denser resulting in a much greater damage, plus the area around the organs is more vulnerable to damage in general.

**Elemental physics: **

This is my general explanation on the physics of element chakra. This section has to do with the strengths and weakness between them.

While you can say Fire Wind Lightning Earth Water Fire it doesn't quite work that way.

Yes fire is stronger then wind, because wind makes fire stronger by adding more oxygen to burn. However as anyone who has breathed near a candle can tell you, wind can affect the fires course. So in a direct confrontation unless the fire possesses more inertia then the wind it will be thrown back at the user. If a fireball is going much faster then a wind ball the fireball will overpower the wind ball and keep going, but if that wind ball is much bigger then the fireball it will cancel out the fire. However even if one wins it will inevitably travel slower, think of it this way, if there is a ball rolling on a flat surface and I tap it, it might over come the force of my tap, but will slow down. What this means if that when fire meets wind it either cancels, or slows down and gets stronger with the chance of direction change.

Wind when it meets lightning disperses the lightning. The thing about lightning is its just a concentrated stream of electrons. Same concept with lightning chakra, its just highly concentrated electrons, and the wind flows in between the electrons and separates them. If you break apart the lightning it weakens, that's why Raiton Jutsu are small and concentrated, while you can get large Raiton Jutsu, they require massive chakra, as they need massive amounts of electrons to be concentrated enough to maintain the same damage as the smaller Jutsu while increasing in size.

The concentrated nature of lightning Jutsu explains why It beats earth. The lighting Jutsu slices through the earth due to its concentrated nature. While both lightning and wind are blade like in nature wind is much more dispersed, allowing it to be used for other things, while lightning is concentrated and can only is used like a blade. This concentration is what gives it the strength that wind lacks, the strength to cut straight through the earth. While some of its energy is absorbed by the earth the majority of it gets through as its slicing through the earth.

The reason earth beats water is really simple, earth acts like a sponge to water. It absorbs the water.

Same with water beating fire, water puts out fire.

I hope you've all enjoyed your delve into the explanation of why different elemental chakra's act differently. There may possibly be more refinement or minor alterations, but that's my general explanation.


	22. Orochimaru fights

**Hokage's Tower: Minutes before the attack:**

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Sarutobi sat in the official Hokage's chair, with the traditional Hokage's outfit, hat and all, puffing on his pipe, all because of three Genin and their Jonin sensei. "Kakashi, you know I can't do anything about this, one of the first acts the Shinobi council instituted during the time between the Nidaime's death and my original appointment to office was to shift all control over the Strategic Resources Program to the jurisdiction of the council, citing that 'The Hokage's job is to become attached to their ninja, so that they will act to preserve their lives, as such it is common for the Hokage to be unwilling to order their subordinates to participate in programs such as the Strategic Resources Program. As such it falls to the duty of the Shinobi Council to manage the program in whole, to prevent the reining Hokage from interfering on the behalf of one of their Shinobi in the program.' So no matter what you have to tell me there is absolutely nothing I can do about the program or your team." The Hokage's sigh afterwards betrayed his frustration with his inability to help one of his favourite Jonin, and his favourite blond Genin.

Despite the Hokage's attempt at convincing him that there was nothing they could do Kakashi still insisted on telling the Hokage what he had found in the Shinobi library. "But Hokage-Sama, You recall the ROOT program from a number of years ago?"

This mention of the ROOT program brought up very unsettling memories for Sarutobi, memories of dozens of talented ninja, who all could have easily, became elite Jonin, staring back at him emotionlessly. The disbandment of the ROOT program for its inhumane treatment of Shinobi and the brainwashing of loyal Shinobi into mindless, emotionless, tools that served Danzo first and the Hokage second. The mass execution of these ninja, whose loyalty to the village could no longer be trusted, and they could not be left in the hands of the old war hawk Danzo. All of these memories shattered the false happiness that the Hokage was extruding in an attempt to keep one of his most powerful Jonin calm. In a gravely serious voice he asked "And what does the ROOT program have to do with the SRP?"

At this Kakashi just shook his head, before sighing, this was a horrible nightmare that he wished he could wake up from. "The connection is…" Just seconds after Kakashi opened his mouth to attempt to explanation the connection the massive windows behind the Hokage's chair shattered as a ninja came flying through them. At the same time the roof exploded in a cloud of dust that filled the room. Before the Hokage could do anything about the ninja that had just burst into his office or the hole in his ceiling, the ninja suddenly wrapped his arm around Sarutobi neck and shot up through the hole, dragging the elderly Kage with him.

Kakashi, having seen the movement in the smoke, realized that a ninja was attempting to kidnap or possibly assassinate the Hokage. While Kakashi knew that the Hokage was the strongest ninja in the village, he was get old, extremely old for ninja who have an average life expectancy of twenty five. Been the loyal ninja that Kakashi is he shot through the hole right after the ninja that had kidnapped his Hokage. While following the ninja Kakashi noticed something, this hole went all the way to the roof of the building. 'This is going to be really bad.' As Kakashi reached the top of the Hokage's tower he discovered that the Ninja that had burst into the Hokage's office was none other then Orochimaru. At the same time he saw that there were four other ninja, presumably Orochimaru's ninja, in a rectangle shaped pattern. "Shit" cursed Kakashi as he realized 'It's a trap.'

Shooting forwards Kakashi managed to catch Orochimaru off guard, Orochimaru not having expected another ninja to be in the Hokage's office let alone been able to follow him up here before the sound four activated their barrier. Before The sound for, Orochimaru or Sarutobi could react Kakashi had ripped the elderly Hokage out of Orochimaru's grip and sent him flying to a neighbouring building. Luckily for both Sarutobi and Kakashi he passed by the sound four a mere second before their barrier appeared. However this left the Hokage trapped on the outside and Kakashi trapped on the inside with Orochimaru.

The instant the dark purple barrier went up there were two massive explosions, the first was at the walls, turning Sarutobi and Kakashi saw something that sent horror to the very core of their beings. Snakes. Several large snakes, lead by one large three headed snake, had smashed through Konoha's great wall. A Wall that had stood unpenetrated since the very founding of the village, not even the Kyuubi had managed to reach the wall. And yet there it was, the very wall that had protected Konoha for generations came crashing down, sending house sized fragments of stone flying into buildings, killing untold hundreds of civilians and Shinobi alike.

Turning to the second explosion the two Nin found something even more terrifying. A massive Tanuki, one of such size that it could only be a Biju, had appeared in the middle of Konoha, and had began a rampage that was adding hundreds to the already significant death toll. Kakashi yelled at his Hokage "Hokage-Sama, you must leave, aid the village while I hold off Orochimaru."

This caused the Hokage to protest and Orochimaru to begin his very weird and very disturbing chuckling, "Ku Ku Ku. You, a mere _Jonin_ expect to beat me, Orochimaru? Even your precious Hokage would be unable to beat me what hope do you think you have of beating me? Even if you are the legendary copy cat ninja. I know many a snakes that enjoy the test of fresh cat meat."

Kakashi just smiled at the snake in the grass before saying "Oh its simple, You fear death, you seek immortality correct?"

This prompted Orochimaru to chuckle even more sinisterly "That is were you wrong, I do not seek immortality, for I have already obtained it." At that Orochimaru did something that no one was expecting, he held his hand to his face before tearing away his skin, to reveal a beautiful, extremely pale, female face. This face chuckled, just like Orochimaru, except this time it was deeper, longer. This time it felt as if the very laugh could kill you. "I have obtained true immortality!"

Sarutobi just gasped outside the barrier before yelling "You couldn't have. Have you mastered _that_ Jutsu?"

Orochimaru answered his teacher with a smile, the kind of smile that promised pain, suffering and death to all who see it. "Yes, I have perfected my Immortality Technique, with it I can jump from body to body, never growing old, and never growing weak. I shall live to learn every Jutsu ever created."

Kakashi just snorted at Orochimaru "You truly sicken me, what sort of deprived being could live like that, stealing other people's lives just to prolong your own pathetic one. I am glad I shall be the one to kill you hear today Orochimaru. Your twisted dreams will end here today!"

Smiling Kakashi the same smile he had given his sensei mere moments ago Orochimaru commented "I wonder what the Uchiha brat would think of his teacher standing up to me. I'll make sure to ask him."

This caused Kakashi's heart to sink, for the second he heart Orochimaru mention Sasuke he realized what he was after "You don't care about killing the Hokage, or destroying Konoha, Your after Sasuke aren't you?"

Releasing his foul laugh upon the world once more Orochimaru said "That boy will be the perfect host, with his Sharingan I shalt learn all the Jutsu in the world."

Roaring Kakashi charged at Orochimaru, flashing through the three hand signs for the Raikiri, the second the Raikiri appeared Kakashi made a viscous stabbing motion, his hand plunging straight through Orochimaru's heart.

However instead of the expected scream of pain, or the other noises associated with having ones heart blown out, Kakashi instead hear chuckling, looking up he saw Orochimaru melted away into mud. Realizing that he had just used Raikiri on a Tsuchi Bunshin, Kakashi attempted to dive to his left to avoid the inevitable counter attack; however he found that he was stuck. The mud of the mud clone had solidified around his hand to form an earth restraint. Kicking against the remnants of the clone Kakashi managed to break his hand out, however as a result he was sent flying backwards, right into the mouth of a small snake Orochimaru had summoned.

Continuing with his laughing Orochimaru smirked at Kakashi before saying "The King Cobra, its venom can kill a man in two minutes, I'd give a ninja like you three. Think you can beat me in that time Copy cat?"

Kakashi, he did something completely unexpected. He began to laugh. "Orochimaru, I will die today. I knew that the second I saw you. I knew that when I threw away the Hokage that I was throwing away my last chance at living past today. You however, are going to die first." With that Kakashi surged forwards, a kunai shot to his hand as and within seconds he was slashing at Orochimaru, only for his hand to be caught by Orochimaru's long tongue. Before Kakashi could react the Kusanagi shot from Orochimaru's mouth and through Kakashi's kunai and into his hand. Tearing his head to the size, Orochimaru sliced through Kakashi's hand before swinging his head down sideways, clearly intending on cutting diagonally through Kakashi's chest.

Unfortunately for Orochimaru Kakashi was far too experienced to get caught out by the pain in his hand and managed to jump back. This left Kakashi with about two seconds of spare time, two seconds to ponder just how he was going to fulfil his vow and slay the great snake Sannin. 'I guess I really am going to die.' Were Kakashi's thoughts on his plan.

Just as Orochimaru sliced at Kakashi again he jumped back, this time taking a stance that Orochimaru was familiar with, the stance used for opening the Hachimon. Realizing it would be a very bad idea if he let Kakashi open the Hachimon, especially after he had pledged to kill him even if he died, Orochimaru lifted his arms up and snakes shot out from the sleaves. As the snakes shot towards Kakashi he yelled out "Kaimon, Kai" before dodging to the left at a well above normal speed. Then he stopped again before resuming his stance. Before Orochimaru could act Kakashi yelled out "Kyumon Kai, Seimon Kai, Shomon Kai."

As Kakashi opened the fourth gate Orochimaru attacked once more, this time extending the Kusanagi in an attempt to spear him. However Kakashi was far too fast for that now. Shooting forwards at a speed that would be blinding to anyone except S-ranked ninja Kakashi flew through three hand signs at a speed that it was impossible to tell which three hand signs they were. That was until you heard the cackling associated with the Raikiri. While Orochimaru tried to dodge this new ultra high speed Raikiri it clipped him on the chest. This caused a howl of pain from the legendary snake Sannin.

He yelled at Kakashi "YOU WILL DIE!" before running through hand signs. The second he finished a torrent of mud shot from his mouth. While Kakashi dodged it kept coming, soon there was a coating of mud a metre thick covering the entire flow within the barrier. That was when the Jutsu stopped.

Kakashi moved to attack Orochimaru, but stopped as he noticed his vision blurring before cursing to himself 'Damn, that poison, it's already starting to affect me, I'll have to open more of the gates to overcome its affects.' While Kakashi was distracted by the poison Orochimaru had began hand signs again. Continuing what seemed to be a massive series of hand signs as the very earth that had shot from his mouth only moments ago gathered around him Orochimaru noticed that Kakashi had resumed his stance for the gates.

This caused Orochimaru to mentally laugh 'Ku Ku Ku, he won't be able to open enough gates in time.' Just as he thought that Kakashi yelled "Tomon Kai, Keimon Kai, Kyomon…" he was interrupted before he could open the seventh gate by a massive tidal wave of mud that seemed to shoot towards him. Flashing through hand signs once again Kakashi called upon the Raikiri. However this time as he did the hand signs he heard snapping sounds. His very muscles were tearing for the stresses they were under, even with the massive boost of chakra from the Hachimon holding his body together Kakashi wouldn't survive much longer. Just before the made wave struck him Kakashi leapt into the air and towards the wave. Plunging his right hand forward he sliced through the mud wave to immerge on the other side unharmed.

Growling in frustration with this 'weak' ninja's refusal to die Orochimaru charged forward once more, this time Kusanagi in hand instead of in mouth, slashing at Kakashi. Yet Kakashi used his far superior speed to avoid the strike while retreating back. Glaring at Orochimaru he said "You will die right here right now. Kyomon Kai." And before Orochimaru could even make a move to stop he Kakashi yelled "Shimon KAI!" With that a massive wave of chakra filled the barrier. Kakashi felt like he had ten times as much chakra as even the Hokage and he was right. Every single cell in his body was been converted directly into chakra. Soon he would die. There was no stopping that. But he could do it. He could kill Orochimaru right now. But this was his final shot. He somehow knew that he would only get one chance to kill Orochimaru. One attack.

Going through the hand signs for his sole original technique Kakashi shot towards Orochimaru. This time there was no seeing him. it was like he had disappeared one second and reappeared that same second standing in front of Orochimaru, lunging towards him, Raikiri poised to strike straight through his vial, corrupted, black heart. He was closing in, 30cm, 20cm, 10cm, but at the same time Orochimaru had began moving. Just as it appeared that the Raikiri would strike home, slaying Orochimaru once and for all, Orochimaru managed one final feat of evasion and the Raikiri plunged into his right shoulder and kept going, taking the entire right arm with it. When Kakashi landed Orochimaru was on the roof top. Unable to move. The massive electrical surge had fried his nervous system. He wouldn't be able to move every again with out expert medical attention. It would only take one more strike to slay him. Yet Kakashi couldn't do it. He dropped to the ground, his body no longer able to support itself. He was only a breath away from death. Just before the darkness claimed him he looked up, to see His father, his teammates, Rin and Obito, and his teacher, the Yondaime. Smiling he said to them "see you soon." And with that his head dropped back down onto the roof of the Hokage's tower, and that was the end of the legendary Copy cat ninja. Feared Anbu, respected Jonin, faithful teacher, and the closest thing to a loving farther his Genin team had ever had.

At that same time the barrier surrounding him and Orochimaru dropped, as the sound four came rushing to the aid of their master. Picking him up they began to flee, and while the Anbu tried to stop them, they were captured in a white web like substance. As the sound ninja saw Orochimaru fleeing they sent out the single flair ordering retreat. At the same time the sand nin realized that they had lost. Even if they made it back to their village Konoha would easily massacre them, they knew they had no choice but to surrender and pray that their village would be spared.

**

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With the Hokage: after the appearance of Kakashi's first Raikiri:

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**

Sarutobi stared into the barrier; he knew that he should be the one in there, that he should be the one to die facing his former student. Yet he also knew that he shouldn't be the one in their. He had his chance years ago, and he failed to take it, and now one of Konoha's most powerful and respected Jonin, one of Sarutobi's friends, would die because of it. Yet he didn't stand and watch the battle. He knew the outcome. Orochimaru would survive, he always found a way, and Kakashi would die. Leaving a team of Anbu behind to wait for the barrier to collapse Sarutobi headed out to lead his Ninja in the fight against the invasion forces of both sound and sand.

Yet as he travelled through the village he was shocked and appalled at the ninja's reactions. They had been so caught off guard by this attack that they forgot the plan. The plan is a set of three simple steps that must be preformed during an invasion. Every single Konoha ninja is taught the plan. And yet they had failed to follow the plan, it was a very simple plan. Step one: Attempt to eliminate the invaders, if that cant be done without causing massive collateral damage they proceed to step two, the evacuation of the civilians. However this is where the ninja of Konoha failed. The combination of the surprise and overwhelming numbers caused the Konoha ninja to react as they would in a normal attack. Survive and Eliminate the enemy. While the Shinobi were managing to hold the overwhelming invasion force of sand and sound Nin the number of causalities was high, the bodies of Shinobi were starting to pile high enough to form defensive barriers around hotly contested areas such as the gates. The number of civilian causalities was atrocious, that was when Sarutobi acted. It was time for the god of Shinobi to take command. Summoning four shadow clones, Sarutobi sent one to each of the gates and the final one to follow him towards the three headed snake that was leading a charge through the massive hole in Konoha's walls that it had created. Sarutobi ran through a series of hand signs before slamming his hands on the ground while yelling "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" and all of a sudden he was standing atop a massive ape. "Taikun, I need your help to take out that snake."(AN) However Sarutobi did not receive a verbal response, or one that a human would understand, instead the gigantic ape roared and pounded its chest before lunging for the snake.

Startled one of the snake heads tried to escape, another tried to attack, and the third was frozen in place. This gave the gigantic ape time to grab the snake's middle head and its tail and raise it into the air. Before the snake, or anyone else, could realize what was going on the great ape pulled with all its might, separating the middle head from the body of the snake. While the snake survived the wound, it was gravely injured, and snakes unlike other summons will leave once they are injured. For a snake only cares about its own gain.

Seeing the summon that was leading them in the charge against Konoha have one of its head ripped off and been showered in its blood froze the invading ninja for a few seconds. Those seconds were long enough for the Konoha ninja in the area to gain the upper hand. Within minutes the sand and sound force that had penetrated the great wall of Konoha was been forced out the very hole in which they entered. It was then that a massive flair went off in the sky and the sound Shinobi began retreating. Well to put it correctly, they ran like the hell hounds were after them.

Sarutobi dismissed Taikun before sitting down atop the roof top of one of the few buildings to survive this close to the wall. He let out a great sigh, for while they had pushed out the invading sound army and captured a large portion of the sand army, the causalities were clearly high, at least a third of Konoha's Shinobi force cut down. What's worse is that wasn't counting the Genin and academy students that were caught in the attack of the Tanuki. A generation of Konoha Shinobi were more then likely killed off. The civilian death toll would be massive. The entire market district had been flattened. This was a horrible day for Konoha, and it will only get worse as clean up begins and they start getting real numbers. Sarutobi could only think one thing 'Minato, you should be the one dealing with all this, I should have been the one to seal the Kyuubi not you.'

**

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AN:**

Lets all take a moment to remember Kakashi. That was probably the worst thing I've done in this story. I liked my Kakashi, I really liked his character. Yet at the same time someone important needed to die, and I'm honestly glad it was Kakashi. I've had this planned since I put up the poll on wether Sarutobi lived or not. This was the consequence I mentioned for him living. Kakashi's death was preferable to Sarutobi's for a simple reason. Team seven. While Sarutobi affects Konoha as a whole, and would have a hard affect on Team seven (mainly Naruto), Kakashi's death is much more of an impact on team seven. Naruto and Sasuke practically grew up with Kakashi, (7 and 5 spent with him). For Naruto Kakashi became the father he never had, for Sasuke he became the father he always wanted (Cus we all know that Sasuke's father was a really bastard.). Then there is Hinata, while she wasn't with team seven as long, she had worse need for a father. Naruto never had one, Sasuke's ignored him, but Hinata's, Hinata's was an active negative, a constant source of emotional pain. So its not hard to see Kakashi becoming the father Hinata needed. That is why this affects team seven more, they have each lost someone who might as well be their father, this is a test that will either strengthen the bonds of team seven or shatter them. So find out next time on A freak event.

(AN) the name for the giant ape, Taikun, is according to the site I use for all my translations the closest to Japanese for king. This name comes from Kong, (yes as in King kong) because Kong is Danish for king, so the name was translated into English then Japanese. As for the summon been bigger then the boss, well if you think about it, it makes sense. Your ruler might not necessarily be the strongest. Enma is extremely strong (for his size) and he also is extremely wise. Taikun on the other hand is really big and really strong; however he lacks the intelligence necessary to be the boss of the monkey summons.

Orochimaru's injury: I'm assuming that Orochi has not perfected the oral rebirth technique (the Jutsu where he climbs out of his mouth fully regenerated) and as such a major injury such as the loss of his arm and the paralysation resulting for having his nervous system fried.


	23. Revelation

**Konoha Hospital: two days after the attack:

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**Sarutobi stood in the doorway to a hospital room, inside the room there was three beds, each bed holding a member of team seven. He just stood there staring at them. Thinking back to when his own sensei died, Sarutobi could feel the pain just like it was yesterday, his death had left him unapproachable for a week, and that was after years as a seasoned Shinobi, his only comfort had been that his sensei had killed his own killer before his own death. Even then however Sarutobi had the support of his friends and family. Yet, these three laying there in front of him had none of that. They weren't seasoned Shinobi, they had been Shinobi for less then a year. They didn't have the comfort of knowing that their sensei had killed his opponent, for Orochimaru had managed to flee back to sound. They didn't have the support of friends and family, Naruto and Sasuke had no family, their closest been Kakashi, Hinata's family wasn't the sort you would go to for support, or anything other then a cold dismissal, they didn't even have any friends outside their team. This could very well be the tragedy that breaks them. This would be the single worst possible outcome. News of their fights had spread throughout the village. Naruto's summoning of the massive fox and the defeat he dealt the gigantic Tanuki that had caused so much damage. Hinata and Sasuke's defeat of ten sound Chunin, even if they were only as skilled as Genin, then defeating two sand Jonin by themselves, suffering horrible wounds in the progress and yet pressing through them to victory. Team seven had become an icon to the people, a team that would protect them. Sure there was distrust, especially of Naruto, however the people felt that even if he was a demon, he seemed to be on their side.

That was something interesting for Naruto when he wakes up, despite public opinion of him improving; they still viewed him as a demon, although summoning that fox demon didn't help matters, however it seemed that they were willing to put that aside as long as he worked to protect them. Their opinion once they feel safe from the threat of Orochimaru? Well that will be interesting to find out.

Turning to leave Sarutobi saw that the doctor that had been put in charge of team seven's care was standing next to him, waiting to be acknowledged, nodding once to the doctor Sarutobi listened to his report.

"Hokage-Sama, their condition is improving. Uzumaki-san should awaken within the day, as the majority of his wounds healed within the first day and we have only been waiting for his chakra to recover. Uchiha-Sama should awaken in around five days time, his wounds were much more severe then Uzumaki-san's, the only reason he is still alive today is thanks to a rare medical condition that caused his heart to grow on the right-hand side instead of the left, he truly is blessed, despite this apparent blessing his left lung was still punctured and he suffered from blood loss and should try to avoid anything that could cause heavy breathing so as to not agitate his lung injury. Hyuga-Sama's Injuries were slightly more severe then Uchiha-Sama's as she was suffering from blood loss due to the large cuts, along with some damage to her collar bone from where the kunai point impacted, her main injury was near complete chakra exhaustion. She should also awaken in around five days. Although she will have to refrain for putting any strain on her right wrist, until it heals, along with waiting a few days after that for her chakra to regenerate to a useable level."

Nodding once to the doctor the elderly Hokage commanded "Keep Naruto and the rest of the team sedated until they can all be awoken at the same time, They lost their sensei, a major figure in their lives, and the only people they can turn to for comfort are each other. Wait until they can all be together when I tell them the news before you allow them to awaken. Also make sure that Sasuke's lung is safe for use as despite his personality I would not be surprised if tears were shed over this."

The doctor just nodded his head saying "Yes Hokage-Sama." Before bowing and entering the room to write on their medical charts. As the doctor entered the room Sarutobi walked away, aiming to get away from the hospital and back to his office, where he could find solace in his paperwork.

However his sought after peace would be denied for he had barley made it twenty metres down the hospital hallway leading away from team seven's room when he encounter his last active student, who clearly wanted to talk. He fought to keep the frustration from his voice as he asked "Yes Jiraiya?"

Wether or not Jiraiya noticed the frustration was unknown as he seemed to ignore it and made his _request_, "Sarutobi-sensei, I want Naruto."

Sarutobi just shook his head at Jiraiya "I'm sorry Jiraiya I can't let you take Naruto."

Waves of anger shot through Jiraiya, before taking a deep breath and glaring at his former teacher he asked "What do you mean you can't let me take him? He is my god son; it's my duty to Minato to teach him."

Sighing Sarutobi just continued to shake his head, "You can't have him Jiraiya, you don't understand. Naruto is the unofficial leader of team seven. They others might not admit it, but when it comes to leadership Naruto's natural charisma results in people following him, just like his Father. What's worse is Naruto just lost the man who filled Minato's role as his father. His whole team lost the man who became their father. Taking Naruto from his team would not only break him but his team, his closest friends."

The rage that had began to fill Jiraiya at his sensei's refusal to allow him to take his god son for the training he owes him began to ebb; slowly Jiraiya realized that while he hadn't been here for Naruto he had formed connections to others. If he were to take him away now, especially with the pain he's going to go through when he finds out about Kakashi's death, it would break him or at least cause him to hate him. As Jiraiya came to this conclusion he let out a deep sigh. He looked at his teacher before saying "When will he wake up?"

Sarutobi let out the breath he had been holding as he saw his pupil calm down, "He should be waking up today, but I'm having him sedated until the rest of his team wakes up, so I can break it to them as a team and so they can lend each other the support they will need, for they have no one else. His team is expected to awaken in five days."

Jiraiya simply nodded saying "I'll be back in six days." Before disappearing in a cloud of smoke and leaves.

Sighing once more Sarutobi resumed his trek to his office, and the solace that paperwork would hopefully provide, on the way he realized something 'I seem to be sighing a lot, must be a sign of old age.'

Yet before he could reach his office an Anbu appeared in front of him and spoke in a monotone voice only seen within a certain Anbu sub group, "The council has called a meeting." Before disappearing in leaves and smoke.

Shaking his head Sarutobi pondered idly as he headed to the council meeting hall 'Why do they all insist on using Shunshin, do no ninja walk nowadays?'

**

* * *

The Council Meeting Hall:

* * *

**When Sarutobi took his seat in the meeting hall he called it to order before asking "Now why was a council meeting called?"

Danzo was the one to stand to answer his question, "It is in regards to the members of the Strategic Resources Program that are currently within the hospital. We request that they be turned back over to the program."

Sarutobi just stared at him and flatly replied "No."

This caused a look of shock to flash across the old war hawk's face "What do you mean no? They are members of the Strategic Resources Program; they can be taken care of there."

Sarutobi just stared blanking at Danzo before repeating his response "No."

This was beginning to infuriate Danzo, however before he could respond in anger one Hyuga Hiashi asked the question Sarutobi was waiting for "Why?"

This caused the edges of Sarutobi's mouth to twitch as he bit back a smile "The Strategic Resources Program was designed to give Shinobi with extreme potential the resources and education they need to become great ninja. However this comes at a cost, the ninja in the program are separated from their fellow ninja, resulting in a cold attitude towards others, further more they are separated from the public eye. This would be a terrible decision. Team seven has become the symbol for home amongst many of our Civilians and even a few ninja. In the last two days the number of applicants to the Academy has increased one hundred and fifty percent. All because parents want their kids to grow up to be like team seven, all because kids want to grow up to be like team seven. In my Generation the Senju brothers were our heroes, in the next generation I was the hero, in the following generation were the Sannin and Ninja like the white fang. Then there was the Yellow flash. Now we have a new group of heroes, Team seven. To take them away from the public right now would be disastrous for both moral and public opinion. Especially should the civilians find out they were been put into a program that resulted in Orochimaru and Itachi."

Hiashi merely nodded his head in agreement with the logical argument, as did many of the members of the council, some in actual recognition of the logic, others in fear of the public backlash if they were found to have supported such an idea. Fuming in rage Danzo took his seat and glared at Sarutobi all but saying "This isn't over!"

However Sarutobi continued to stare blanking at the council before saying "If that is all the I have business to attend to." Before standing and leaving before the council could say anything to object. The council merely sat there in shock at been so easily outwitted by the elderly Kage. What they had forgotten over the years of Sarutobi letting them get away with stuff was that they weren't facing any Shinobi, he was the legendary Professor. Master of over a thousand Jutsu. One didn't get a title like professor for been slow witted.

**

* * *

Hospital: six days later

* * *

**

The Hokage had finally allowed the doctors to awaken team seven from their currently drug induced sleep. The Hokage, along with Jiraiya, were inside the room that team seven shared as they awaited their awakening.

Slowly, minutes after the stimulants to awaken them had been injected, team seven began to awaken. Sasuke was the first to awaken thanks to his constant training keeping his body in top physical condition. Next was Hinata, who despite her also excellent physical condition took a couple seconds more to awaken due to her smaller frame. Surprisingly the last to awaken was Naruto; Naruto began to awaken thirty seconds after Hinata. This was thanks to the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi had been accelerating Naruto's metabolism, more then his already fast metabolism, so as to burn away the sedatives, this resulted in Naruto receiving double the dose his teammates did.

When all of team seven was awake they began to take stock of the room. They were in a hospital room with the Hokage, and that white haired guy who saved them, or that's what Naruto and Hinata thought as Sasuke passed out before she could see him rescue her. It was also at this time that Naruto realized something was wrong. There was an odd weight on his head. Raising his hand to his head he felt around, and what he felt wasn't his hair; it was soft, and fuzzy, kinda like…fur. 'Fur? Why is there fur on my head?'

Felling around some more he found what felt like a tail, grabbing it he moved it in front of his face, and what he saw shocked him, it was a fox, a small red fox. Putting down the fox on the bed next to him Naruto looked at the Hokage with a puzzled look on his face that screamed 'Why was there a fox on my head?'

Chuckling to himself as he saw the expression on Naruto's face Sarutobi was about to answer when Jiraiya answered for him, "I was going to ask you why that fox approached you when you were knocked unconscious by the sand gaki, but I'm guessing from the look on your face you don't know either."

Just as Naruto opened his mouth to ask something a strange voice was heard, "I can answer that." Naruto started looking around, before here noticed that everyone was staring at him. Then he noticed it was him they were staring at but the fox next to him. Staring down he saw the fox was looking up at him. Then it spoke. Again. "I am the fox you summoned to fight the one tailed Biju."

Naruto blinked once, twice, three times, before just staring at the fox. When he finally regained the ability to speak he asked "But, didn't you dispel back to where you came from?"

Shaking its fox head the fox answered "No, I was mortally wounded by the one tailed Biju. When a summon is mortally injured, they are trapped within the human realm to die so as to allow a new summon to take their place in the summon ladder. However I was not willing to just roll over and die. So I used a kitsune demon Jutsu. It has no name as we foxes don't worry about silly things like naming techniques, but what it does it allows a fox to sacrifice tails for health. This instantly heals the fox's wounds, to a certain extent. The more tails sacrificed the more powerful a healing. Unfortunately for me I was so badly wounded that I was forced to sacrifice three of my tails, leaving me with just one. So while my strength and size has declined I'm still alive and as smart as ever."

Naruto just stared blankly at the fox before nodding slowly. Hinata then ventured a question "A-Ano…i-if y-your b-better n-now w-why d-don't y-you r-return h-home?"

The small fox let out a small yip at her before saying "It's because a new fox took my position on the ladder. When a summon is mortally injured they are removed from the summoning ladder and are forever stranded in the mortal plane. While this normally wouldn't matter as they die, in my case it does. So I am doing the next best thing to returning home, serving my master."

Hinata just nodded and gave a small "I see".

It was this time when Sarutobi coughed to get everyone's attention. "There is a reason I am here, besides to congratulate our three biggest heroes."

At this the three Genin of team seven just stared at him, and as one said "H-Heroes?"

Nodding the Hokage smiled "It's simple really, Naruto; you fought and defeated the gigantic demon that was destroying Konoha, if it wasn't for you thousands of lives may have been lost. We may not have repelled the invasion. Hinata, Sasuke; you might not know it, but the sound squad you took out had the plans for the emergency field hospital we use in cases like invasion. If you hadn't stopped them the position could have easily been overrun and hundreds of injured would have died. Then you, two Genin, each defeated a Jonin of sand, a village renowned for the strongest one on one ninja. You three are heroes of this invasion. The children have started looking up to you, you make the civilian's feel safe, and your bravery has inspired our ninja forces. Without you three Konoha would be highly demoralized right now."

The three Genin of team seven sat there in shock. Heroes? Them? They had never been respected, well Sasuke had been semi respected but only for his name, and now they were heroes. This was however when Sasuke noticed something "Excuse me Hokage-Sama, but where is Kakashi-sensei?"

At this question the other members of team seven started looking at the Hokage, and what they saw frightened them. His head was down, his shouldered slumped and on his face he wore an expression of deep regret and sadness. When they heard the crushing words "I'm sorry…" they knew what had happened. Kakashi, their sensei, hadn't survived the invasion. He was dead. Gone. Lost to them forevermore.

Naruto was the first one to mange to say something, choking as if he were holding back a river of tears he asked "h-how?"

To which Sarutobi answered "Orochimaru. Kakashi threw me out of a trap Orochimaru had set for me. He fought him with all he had; even using all eight gates despite knowing it would kill him. With his dying breath he managed to score a hit with his Raikiri to Orochimaru's right shoulder. Taking the arm and causing what appeared to be severe nerve damage."

This was when it happened. Hinata was the first. Tears began to flow from her eyes down her cheeks as she heard of Kakashi's noble sacrifice. The first man to show her any love, encourage her, treat her like a father should. Was dead. Sasuke was next, despite how hard he tried to resist, tears flowed down his face just like Hinata. As the memories of the man who took him in after the massacre of his clan flashed before his eyes. The third…never came. There were no tears in Naruto's eyes. When he raised his head, his normal crystal blue eyes were lost. In their place were two crimson orbs with black slitted pupils. His whisker marks, formerly mere lines, were replaced with was appeared to be fully grown demonic looking whiskers. A sickening red chakra flowed around him. As his rage clouded mind forced the Kyuubi's chakra through the seal, wether it liked it or not.

A demonic roar "**OROCHIMARU!" **shook the hospital and in a flicker of untold speed Jiraiya was in front of him, a seal tag attached to Naruto's face before he could react. Then sudden as his transformation came it left him. It left him a broken child. Tears flowed from his now blue eyes like a never ending river of sorrow. As one team seven mourned the loss of their sensei, a great man, a great teacher, but most of all, a great father.

**

* * *

AN:**

Well, that's done. Nearly didn't it make it thanks to this frustrating headache that's been plaguing me all day. Sorry if the scene with team seven seems a little poorly done, I don't think I'm the best as writing that sorta stuff. While this scene may not be that good, it will continue to affect them for a very long time. The pain of loss never goes away.

Naruto's transformation: in cannon when Naruto feels intense emotions, generally rage, the Kyuubi himself forces chakra onto Naruto, however in this Naruto's rage itself was intense enough that he subconsciously began to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra that is naturally in his chakra coils. This enhanced his rage. This then began to forcibly take chakra from the Kyuubi itself, for if Naruto wants the chakra enough he can force it from the Kyuubi and there's nothing the Kyuubi can do to stop it.

Hero ship: well Naruto did, quite publicly, force the demon out of Konoha, a demon that had caused a lot of damage, then he proceeded to defeat it. We all know how respected the Yondaime is for beating the Kyuubi, so Naruto becomes a hero in the eyes of the unknowing and uncaring, but becomes more hated, and feared, by those who do know and care.

Hinata and Sasuke stopped a team form destroying the field hospital, saving hundreds of lives, that sorta thing wouldn't stay quite for long. They also each defeated a Jonin, even if Hinata didn't land a killing blow, which earned them the respect of a lot of ninja.

Here's a question for you guys to ponder. Why is Jiraiya in the room with team seven and the Hokage? What does he want?

by the way i'd like to post the story stats for right now

Story Words Chaps Reviews Hits C2s Favs Alerts A Freak Event 86,045 22 295 90,154 41 210 346

I thank everyone who helped make this story so great. I would like to thank the you guys for the insane number of hits, all 210 people who favorite the story, all 346 who put this story on alert. the 41 C2's and the people who help post 295 reviews, i hope we reach three hundred before the next chapter. (hope not a request, i hate people who demand reviews)

I hope you all enjoy the rest of the story along with me.


	24. A trip and a red dawn

Ten minutes of silence past before the sound of Sasuke speaking shattered the silence. "W-what are we going to do now?" Sasuke asked as he blinked tears out of his eyes.

"Well, for at least the next couple days you three will be staying right here. Only Naruto is remotely close to been allowed to leave the hospital, let alone returning to duty, There will be a mass funeral for the ninja who sacrificed their lives for the village in three days time. There will be a private funeral for Kakashi later on in the day. Afterwards you three will be assigned a new teacher to take over for Kakashi."

The third sighed at the end; he knew this was not going to go over well. He was right. The second the words left his mouth there was an outburst, from Hinata of all people, "B-But K-Kakashi-sensei, w-was o-our t-teacher. W-we c-can't r-replace h-him l-like t-that!"

Sighing once more Sarutobi informed them that they could and would in fact be replacing him like that, "You three are heroes to the public of Konoha, we can't afford to let you idly stand around mourning your loss in this time of need." However that came out much colder then Sarutobi had intended, and only served to alienate the three Genin from him.

Jiraiya managed to salvage the situation when he forced his way into the conversation, "While the old man didn't have to say it so coldly, he is right. We need you three out there, even if its just for public appearances, the sight of you three helping out would help raise moral, something that's dangerously low."

While team seven did concede that point, they still attempted to push for some more time to themselves, however Jiraiya silenced all further attempts when he informed them of their next mission. "When you three have recovered enough all three of you will be accompanying me while I retrieve our Godaime."

This managed to rouse Naruto from the semi-coma he had been in from the combination of shock, grief, rage and the suppressing seal, "Godaime?"

Sighing the third Hokage was the one to answer "I'm old. I was old when the Yondaime took the office. I'm older now. This was clearly shown during the invasion. The only help I provided was in direction, and by the time I arrived my directions were unneeded. We need someone younger to take over for me, so Jiraiya here is going to retrieve Tsunade."

All he received was silence. Taking this as a cue to leave Jiraiya and Sarutobi stood and departed from the room. The second they were out the door Naruto spoke "How dare they…"

He found himself interrupted by Hinata "b-but N-Naruto-kun, t-they h-have a p-point."

Turning to stare at Hinata he said "Not you too hina…" and found himself cut off again, this time not by Hinata.

"**Cease your whining mortals." **The demonic voice of the Kyuubi echoed in the heads of the three Genin

Naruto was the first to respond "Wa? Kyuubi?"

This unintelligent question was followed by Hinata's infinitely smarter question "ano…Kyuubi-san…w-why h-haven't y-you t-talked t-to u-us b-before?"

"**And when would I have had a chance to talk to you human? In the middle of battle? In your dreams?"** asked the demonic voice in a mocking tone coated in sarcasm.

Naruto, still in grieving over the news of Kakashi's death snapped at the fox "Well what do you want stupid fox?"

"**I want you to stop acting stupid, so your teacher died, humans die every day." **The growl that followed was enough to make even the strongest of ninja tremble, but not Naruto, wether it was courage, shear will, or stupidity, he stood strong.

"Bastard fox, what would you know about loss!" screamed Naruto, shocking Hinata and Sasuke who were trembling after hearing the fox.

"**Nothing, all I know is that attachments cause stupidity and weakness. You need to forget about your teacher and move on; I won't have you dying over something so small." **The demonic voice of the Kyuubi boomed through the heads of team seven. The voice itself carried such a demonic pressure that it pushed Hinata and Sasuke flat on their beds and trapped them there.

Just as Naruto was about to retort Jiraiya and the third burst back into the room stunning everyone. "What's wrong!"

Suddenly at the same time all of team seven yelled out "Nothing!"

After been grilled for several minutes by the two elderly ninja they were finally left alone. To spend the rest of the day wondering who they would attempt to replace Kakashi with.

* * *

**Five days later:

* * *

**Team seven found themselves approaching the main gate, standing there waiting for them was Jiraiya, after giving team seven a quick glance over to check that they were ready Jiraiya started walking out the gate, team seven following behind in a silence that screamed anger over been paired with a new instructor so soon after Kakashi's death. As they walked down the path the silence grew deeper, until finally it was shattered by Jiraiya, "You three want to learn some cool Jutsu?" ventured Jiraiya, attempting to build a relationship with the three, however he was met with silence.

Minutes passed before a small voice was heart "a-ano…Jiraiya-san, w-what d-did y-you w-want t-to t-teach u-us?" stuttered out the smallest of team seven.

Smiling as he felt like he was making some form of groundwork "Well Hinata, I was planning on teaching the three of you each a different Jutsu, I was planning on teaching you, Suiton: Teppodama."

At this Hinata stopped and stuttered "b-but I-I'm n-not a-allowed t-to l-learn n-nin-j-Jutsu."

Jiraiya just started laughing while still walking, "That's too funny, I'm not going to let the stupid traditions of the Hyuga clan stop me from teaching one of my students. The Hyuga who decided that Hyuga would only use their Taijutsu was the stupidest ninja alive. Everything has a weakness. Everything. All it takes is a high powered chakra based flash tag to blind the Byakugan, leaving you unable to use Juken."

This brought a question from Sasuke "But if that was all it took to negate Juken and without that the Hyuga are defenceless why haven't we heard of this before? Why didn't the ninja we fought use one on Hinata?"

Surprisingly the answer came from Naruto "Seals. There are thousands of seals, each thousands of combinations with other seals. There are many ways of making a flash tag, however the most basic is used as its cheap, easy to make and works. The basic was is just a pair of sealing seals, one containing a metal such as magnesium and the other an oxidizer such as ammonium perchlorate, there is also an activation seal, when the tag is triggered there is generally a five second delay on the activation seal, which then releases the metal and oxidizer in contact with each other, they then react violently to form a bright flash (see an). The other was I know is to pump a massive amount of chakra into a chakra storage seal that is designed to release all the contained chakra in one massive burst. This burst is so powerful it becomes a visible light as strong as the first style. However the downside is that to produce this tag takes more time, as it generally takes a week to two weeks to create as it requires massive amounts of chakra, the other downside is a chakra burst of that magnitude creates a chakra wave that acts like a flare to every ninja within fifteen kilometres."

Jiraiya agrees with a nod before adding his own bit "While the brat is correct there is one more reason you haven't heard about it, the Hyuga clan intentionally suppresses all knowledge of this weakness. If it was well known that all it takes to kill a Hyuga was a chakra based flash tag, people wouldn't treat them like royalty. Weakness is something the Hyuga clan hates, and they do their best to cover it up."

At the mention of the Hyuga clan covering up weaknesses Hinata flinches slightly as she is reminded of her fathers harsh words about her own weakness.

Naruto decided he wanted to know more about the Strategic Resources Program, and as such rudely asked Jiraiya about it "What do you know about the Strategic Resources Project?"

Jiraiya ground to a halt, "How did you know that name?" demanded Jiraiya in a serious tone that was completely different to his previously friendly voice.

Naruto stepped back a step or two in sudden fear, the very way Jiraiya spoke demanded that you fear him, stuttering Naruto managed to answer him "W-we w-were k-kid-n-napped b-by a-anbu a-and w-woke u-up i-in a p-place c-called SRP w-we m-managed t-to e-escape d-during t-the a-attack."

Jiraiya ground his teeth in anger, his killing intent was palatable. "When I see Sensei again we will have a long talk about that!" ground out Jiraiya before continuing forwards, at a much faster pace.

Naruto however was not satisfied by this "What do you know about that place?!" he demanded again.

This time Jiraiya managed to rein in his anger and answer, "If I were to use a single word to describe it, it would be, Hell. During the Second hidden war me along with my teammates were deemed strong enough to classify for the program. The three of us were split apart and trained alone. While we received intense ninja training, the real purpose of the program is mental training. To create the perfect Shinobi, someone who doesn't let feelings interfere with their missions. When my team was released we had not been turned into the perfect emotionless Shinobi they sought, but all three of us were deeply scared by our time there."

This left team seven staring in wonder at Jiraiya, This man had also been forced into the SRP, however he had not been fortunate enough to escape, instead he endured the entire program and managed to remain sane. None of them knew this, but this moment was the first step to incorporating Jiraiya in the family that is team seven.

**

* * *

Atafuku:

* * *

**

Team seven finds themselves alone in a hotel room waiting for Jiraiya to show up, "I Can't believe him, that Ero-baka, one girl winks at him and he's off running after her, abandoning us here and the mission. We should be out their searching for that Tsunade women, not sitting her wasting time." Ranted a frustrated Naruto, something Kakashi learnt very early on: it was a bad idea to let Naruto get bored for extended periods of time.

Hinata was attempting to calm Naruto down, however he stubbornly refused to be pacified. That was until a booming voice shot through their minds **"Foolish Ningen, you should listen to that man. The three of you need to learn to understand your chakra."**

Naruto, was up in arms at the Kyuubi, "We know how to control our chakra already stupid fox!"

A deep growl reverberated through the heads of our favourite Genin team, before the Kyuubi answered in a very frustrated tone **"Yes you can control your chakra, but you do not understand it. Any idiot can throw a kunai, but only when you understand the kunai can you throw it with deadly accuracy. You must learn to understand your chakra, only then will you be able to utilize it to its maximum." **

Sasuke decided to cut off Naruto before he could even attempt to respond "Why do you want us to get stronger? What's in it for you?"

A deep chuckling filled their minds, **"I care not if you or the female Ningen survive, all I care about is my vessel. If I wanted I can make sure he will not die but doing so would accelerate the drain on my Youkai, and accelerate my death. The stronger he is the less of my chakra he will need; if you two get stronger then he will be even better off."**

Sasuke nodded at the Kyuubi's logical response, before Naruto yelled at it, again, "Well how do we understand our chakra?!"

This time the growl was much deeper, and served as a warning: the Kyuubi was getting angry, **"Foolish Ningen, why do you insist on yelling? Is your brain so incompetent it can't even remember you can talk to me by thinking to me? I shalt answer you question but no more. Meditation, Meditate upon your chakra, study how it flows, how it feels, study your chakra core, watch where you chakra leaks from your Tenketsu."** And with that the great voice disappeared once more.

Team seven decided it was best to head the words of the demon and sat down to begin their meditations, just as they started they were torn from their mediations by a knock on the door. Naruto, frustrated with everything going on right now, marched over to the door opening it yelling "What ever it is go away. I don't care." Before slamming the door closed again.

He got two steps away from the door, before there was another series of knocks. Feeling his frustration building Naruto stormed open to the door, swung it open so hard it nearly flew off its hinges and yelled "I said go the hell away, are you that retarded you can't even understand when someone is telling you to go to hell!" before slamming the door in the visitors faces a second time.

On the other side of the door Itachi and Kisame stood there in shock. Kisame turned to face Itachi "Did that just really happen?" receiving a slight nod from his partner, the greatest reaction he has seen since he was partnered with him, "Well, lets show that brat who's who." The next second the door was shredded as Kisame's Samehada shaves through it.

Inside Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata jump backwards as they see the shrapnel from the door shoot inwards, along with a strange blue scaled thing that destroyed the door. When the dust clears they see two strange looking people in black cloaks with red clouds. One of them appears to be blue and holds the weird blade. However it is the first man that strikes fear into the hearts of team seven. Sasuke utters two hate filled words "Uchiha Itachi!"

The elder Uchiha merely replies in his monotone voice "Hello Sasuke. Naruto-kun, could you please come with us?" Itachi receives his answer when pair of shadow clones appear next to him and lunge at him. Just as it appears that they will hit Itachi vanishes, leaving the two clones to crash into each other.

'This is bad, really bad, none of us could beat him three on one, let alone with a partner. I hate it. We have no choice. We must flee.'

With that Naruto grabbed Hinata and Sasuke while shooting out the bedroom's window.

Itachi stared at the broken window and the retreating forms of team seven blankly while Kisame comments "Damned brats." A few seconds of silence pass before the two missing Nin jump out the window in pursuit of team seven.

Team seven makes it to the edge of the forest surrounding the town, when the two nuke-nin catch up. Dropping Sasuke and Hinata Naruto spins around to confront the two Nin, when his eyes meet Itachi's.

The world spins black and when the blackness fades Naruto finds himself looking upon Konoha, just not the one he knows. The town is but one massive fireball. Everything is on fire. The buildings, the ground, even the mighty wall is burning. Looking up Naruto sees that where the Hokage monument is there is nothing but slag, almost like someone had burnt the Hokage's faces from the mountain.

"g-gen-j-Jutsu, i-it h-has t-to b-be. T-this c-can't be real." Stutters out a terrified Naruto, slamming his hands together in the ram sign Naruto builds up a chakra pulse, before releasing it while yelling "KAI!" The Genjutsu wavers and begins to collapse. Just as it collapses Naruto sees someone standing atop the mountain. His face, save for his left eye, covered by a spiral mask. The uncovered eye, it was red, almost like the Sharingan.

Finally Naruto can see what is going on around him, and he finds his teammates on the ground, Sasuke had a large wound on his arm, almost like someone had rubbed it with sand paper. Hinata was next to him, a similar wound against her left palm. It was then that Naruto identified the cause. The blue skinned man, who looked like an experiment gone wrong, was holding that massive blue weapon that had shredded the hotel door.

It was then that Itachi spoke "Naruto-kun, please come with us, I would hate for my partner to have to inflict more injuries on your friends." That chilling monotone voice sent shivers down Naruto's spine, but he wouldn't let that stop him. Flashing hand seals Naruto attempted to use Doton: Yomi Numa, but was cut off when an Itachi clone appeared next to him. Naruto managed to block the clones strike, but was caught off guard when the clone latched onto Naruto's arm. His purpose was revealed when the clone started glowing. Mentally cursing Naruto attempted to propel himself away from the clone, but it exploded before he could get out of its grip. The explosion sent Naruto flying. To come to a sudden stop as his back met a tree. Coughing Naruto attempted to stand but found Itachi in front of him. Itachi lifted Naruto up by the next and brought him face to face. Just as Itachi began to activate his Mangekyo Sharingan, Naruto's own Sharingan flared to life. Itachi's Sharingan stared into Naruto's. Mangekyo into Sharingan.

The intense staring seemed to drag on for days; it was shattered when Naruto was torn from Itachi's grip by the fleshy, rubbery tongue of a toad. "Never fear for the gallant Jiraiya is here!"

Kisame seemed pleased; it was as if he was looking forward to battling one of the Sannin. However what ever epic battle Kisame was expecting was cut short as Itachi said "Kisame come, It would be foolish to attempt to battle Jiraiya here." With that Itachi left, with a grumbling Kisame following him. Jiraiya was tempted to follow the duo; however he was forced to remain to care for his injured students.

"Naruto, Carry Hinata, I'll take Sasuke, we can't go back to the hotel, we have to keep moving. I got word that Tsunade was sighted in a nearby town, we'll head their now." Instructed Jiraiya as he heaved Sasuke over his shoulder.

Naruto however objected "What! Hinata and Sasuke need to see a doctor!"

His objection was quickly shot down by Jiraiya's short response "I can use the one or two medical Jutsu I know to patch them up, and we are going to find the worlds greatest medic, there is no one better then Tsunade." With that Jiraiya started walking away.

**

* * *

AN:**

Sorry guys, I know this is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY late! Like over a month and a bit late, but I have a reason. I was sick for a while which left me with three massive assignments to due in half the time I was suppose to, then now that I have got a break, I have exam's starting Wednesday. So there may/may not be more delays for the next chappy.

In case you're wondering what happened to the small fox, it didn't appear mostly cus it didn't really have a role at this point. So it spent most the time sitting on Naruto's head (like Akamaru)

Naruto's Sharingan: He did not activate it, it activated on its own. Why it activated? Well that will have to wait and see.

Some of you might comment on Hinata and Sasuke getting taken down by Kisame so fast, but practically everyone is weak against Kisame. He has a massive chakra store, his weapon eats chakra, and he excels in nin and ken Jutsu. Hinata didn't stand a chance as Gentle fist vs a sword, especially one that eats chakra, results in instant loss. Similar Sasuke, who at this point has mostly longer range Jutsu, was attempting a Jutsu and found his chakra drained away.

be-warned, spelling and grammer will be off due to the rushed nature of this chapter.


	25. Training and a festival

**Road to Kakou city:

* * *

**

"Ok we're far enough away now." Said Jiraiya as he lowered Sasuke onto the ground, before gesturing for Naruto to do the same with Hinata. Once they were both on the ground he preformed a sequence of hand seals before his hands started to glow green. Starting with Sasuke Jiraiya began to heal their wounds.

As Jiraiya treated his two wounded teammates Naruto could only stare on, blaming himself for their injuries. 'If I wasn't on this team then Itachi and that blue skinned guy wouldn't have came for them' Naruto clenched his fists in range 'If only I had been stronger I could have stopped them. But Kakashi's gone.'

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts as his fox climbed out of his backpack and yipped in his ear. Startled Naruto jumped into the air yelling. He started to clam down when he realized it was only that fox he had been stuck with. "Don't do that. How did you get here? Didn't I leave you at home?" it was that moment that Naruto realized something. He didn't know the fox's name. Just as the fox was about to explain how it snuck into his bag and had been hiding in their ever since he was cut off when Naruto asked "Say…What's your name?"

"Okibi, my name is Okibi. And even if you try and leave me behind it is my responsibility to protect you." Naruto just nodded unsure what to do with the small fox.

Jiraiya let out a small grunt as he stood after taking care of Hinata and Sasuke "They should be fine, sore for a couple days but fine."

Letting out a sigh of relief Naruto turned to stare at the toad sage, "I want you to teach me." Naruto said in a tone that sounded halfway between a command and an order.

Jiraiya resisted the urge to smirk as he returned "What happened to not wanting me to teach you?"

Tensing slightly Naruto looked down at his feet "I…I was selfish. I didn't want you to teach me because...It would mean accepting Kakashi-sensei is dead…but…but I can't do that anymore. Hinata, Sasuke, They got hurt because of me. If I was stronger… so I need your help…I need you become strong enough to protect them. They…Their all I have left."

Nodding sombrely Jiraiya threw a water balloon at Naruto. "Catch."

Naruto awkwardly caught the balloon, juggling it between his hands a few times before he managed to get a solid hold on it, "What was that for?"

"It's the first step for the Jutsu I'm going to teach you, watch." With that Jiraiya pulled out a second water balloon and held it in his right palm. After a few seconds Naruto was about to ask what he was suppose to see, when the balloon began to violently stretch in several directions at the same time, before exploding sending water everywhere. "That is the first step of the Rasengan."

Naruto looked on in awe, before asking, his voice full of glee, "How do I do that?"

Seeing Jiraiya's smirk Naruto knew that it wouldn't be as simple as an explanation, his words confirmed it "You'll have to figure that out yourself." Before Naruto could retort Jiraiya had already picked up Sasuke and started down the road.

'Stupid geezer, how can he expect me to train and carry Hinata-Chan at the same time?!' as he walked down the path, following a step or two behind Jiraiya, Naruto's mind began to wander onto various unlinked topics in a completely random matter. Kakashi had once described this wandering as 'It's either a sign of stupidity and insanity, or a sign of pure genius at work.' It was this abstract way of thinking that lead Naruto to many strange and wonderful ideas. Today however his mind wandered onto the topic of the girl resting upon his back. 'Why does she love me? I saw the dedication in her eyes, hell she even dreamed of me, but why? She's the heir of the Hyuga clan, a princess by all rights. So why? Why would someone like her love me? I'm nothing compared to her. A lonely orphan. A Jinchuriki. I might have the Sharingan, but that doesn't explain it. Do I even deserve to be loved? And if I do, do I love her back?'

Naruto was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Jiraiya coming to a halt. Nor did he notice the railing he was rapidly approaching, it was only when Jiraiya yanked him back from the edge did he realize just how close he'd came to sending both himself and Hinata to their painful squishy deaths.

"We're here." Announced Jiraiya as he stared down into the crater below. Inside the grater was a bustling city. While not on the same scale as the cities of the land of fire's capital it was definitely one of the larger cities around. Below screams and explosions could be heard, however these were not the signs of a battle, but of a festival. As the city below celebrated some sort of festival, most likely local, people wandered the streets, visiting stall after stall. It was easy for the ninja to note that there were more people at the festival then the city could support, more then likely from surrounding farming communities.

Upon entering the town Jiraiya immediately took team seven to the first hotel he located. Dropping Sasuke onto the top of a bunk bed he turned to Naruto and handed him a key "Watch them." As he walked out again.

As Naruto gently lays Hinata on the bottom of the second bunk bed, he grumbles "Stupid Jiraiya, he probably went to chase girls, I bet he's a pervert, that's it that's why he ran after that girl back in Atafuku he's a pervert. Damn I'm going to have to make sure to keep Hinata safe from him."

Sitting down on the floor in front of Hinata's bed Naruto holds the balloon Jiraiya had given him early and stared at it. If a stare could inflict some form of physical damage onto an object, then this balloon would have simply disintegrated from the hateful stare it was receiving. As it was the balloon would probably suffer some serious mental damage, that is if it had a brain to inflict mental damage upon. However due to its inanimate nature the balloon just sat there in Naruto's hand, rocking backwards and forwards as if mocking him.

Wishing nothing more then for the balloon to explode at that moment Naruto began to pump it full of chakra. However Naruto's desire for explosions and the general destruction of the balloon was left unfulfilled. For instead of exploding in a shower of water signalling his success it stretched out into a larger but still intact balloon. This resulted not in Naruto's wanted joy and excitedness over the completion of this step, but his continued anger and rage.

'Wait his seemed to bulge so maybe it wasn't an equal force. It kinda looked like it was…spinning. That's it' pumping the balloon full of more chakra, his hopes soaring to the sky, only to come crashing down as the balloon failed to explode…again. This time instead of the balloon uniformly stretching it flattened out into a disk shape.

Cursing at the balloon Naruto wondered why it didn't explode like Jiraiya's, it had been amusing to watch the balloon expand in many directions as if trying to escape before been engulfed in its own explosion. "No…that couldn't be…it's not possible!" groaned out Naruto as he applied his idea to the balloon. The results were spectacular. While Jiraiya's had exploded, it was more akin to the water balloon after it hit someone, there was a shower of water in a very localized area. Naruto's did not look at all like that. This was a true explosion. A fine mist of water sprayed throughout the room. Naruto himself was blown back from the force of the chakra been released. The chakra burst was so great as to cause Sasuke to groan and Hinata to stiffen.

A few more sounds came from the two sleeping Genin before they slowly opened their eyes. Well Sasuke opened his eyes; Hinata focused the chakra for the Byakugan, holding it back just a tad before her eyes snapped open. Seeing she was in an unknown environment Hinata allowed the chakra to reach her eyes, veins bulging Hinata stared in three hundred and sixty degrees studying every small detail of the room, before leaping up when she saw that Naruto was sprayed out against the wall, as if thrown by someone.

Naruto's rapid yelling of "Its ok Hinata, it was just me training." Managed to stop her leap, however it was too late to prevent her from banging her head on the bottom of the bed above her. The downside of x-ray vision, if you're not paying close attention you can look through walls and not realize they're there.

Sitting on her bed nursing a slightly bruised head Hinata asked "What happened?"

"We were attacked by nuke-nin, two S-ranks, Uchiha Itachi and someone called Kisame. Luckily Jiraiya showed up and they ran away, however they hurt you two and you guys have been out ever since.'

Sasuke just stood by and watched, feeling left out, 'Why is it that Naruto and Hinata are always talking, Is there something going on there?'

However unfortunately for poor Hinata and Naruto, Sasuke has yet to learn how to properly block his own thoughts; as such Naruto was left blushing while Hinata hit the ground with a soft thump.

"Ero-Sasuke, Just because you are mute doesn't mean there is something between me and Hinata-Chan!" the blushing Naruto yelled, to which Sasuke simply replied with a knowing smirk.

As Hinata slowly awoke from her faint induced sleep Naruto started talking again "Hey Hinata-Chan, there is a festival on right now and I was about to go and check it out, want to come with?"

Stuttering, for the first time in along time when alone with her teammates, Hinata's reply comes out a barley audible "Y-y-yes n-n-Naruto-kun." However it was quickly made clear that Naruto had heard her, for seconds after this she was been dragged to the door. This stopped when Hinata uttered a small "ow."

Letting go of Hinata Naruto turned around, face overflowing with worry, and asked "A-are you ok Hinata-Chan?"

A soft smile made its way onto Hinata's face at Naruto been worried enough to stutter, "I'm fine Naruto-kun, I don't think I'm fully healed yet, so just be gentle." Nodding slightly Naruto grabbed her hand, this time with the gentlest of touches

"I-Is this better?" receiving a nod in reply Naruto slowly started walking out the door with Hinata, hand in hand. All the while Sasuke sat on his bed smirking

"Nothing between them eh? Doesn't seem like nothing to me." He muttered to himself "Well good luck to Hinata, she'll need it to be with Naruto."

**

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Kakou city: Festival grounds:

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**

Hinata and Naruto are walking side by side down the main street of the festival grounds, they had made it all the way out of the hotel before they realized something, they were holding hands, this resulted in a rapid release of each other, followed by blushing, all in all an amusing event. Wandering along Naruto saw an accuracy competition. If you could hit the bullseye with the senbon you could chose a prize. Pointing at the stand Naruto asked "Want me to win you something?" receiving a slight nod Naruto headed off in the direction of the stand with Hinata trailing behind. However when they got to the stand the manager immediately yelled "No Ninja!" While pointing to the sign that did in fact say "No ninja". Sighing deeply Naruto said "Come on Hinata." As he wandered off with his head down 'I really wanted to win her something.'

The stand operator saw as the young boy wandered off with the other ninja, clearly his girlfriend, following behind him. He felt a pang in his heart as he remembered taking his girlfriend to the festival to win her something, then the feeling of worthlessness when he failed. Yelling out he called Naruto back "Hey ninja boy, you want a go?"

In less then a second Naruto's head had snapped around and he was staring dumbly at the operator "B-But didn't you just say no ninja?"

Shrugging the guy replied "Sure, but I'm willing to cut you a deal, shoot from the other side of the road, while moving and pick a smallish prize if you win and I'll let you have a go."

Nodding swiftly Naruto handed the man his money and took the offered senbon. Standing on the other side of the road, fifteen metres up the road from the stand, Naruto began to run; just as he passed the stand he threw the senbon. It landed halfway on the bullseye, close enough for a prize. Walking over to the stand he asked "What do you want Hinata-Chan?" seeing her point at a small fox Naruto smiled and told the man "Well then I guess we'll take that one." After giving the fox to Hinata and thanking the man for letting him have a go Naruto and Hinata started off again down the road through the festival grounds.

The two young Genin found themselves playing game after game, enjoying the games they were denied as children, and enjoying the last fragments left of their childhoods. They ended up sitting on a bench eating a mystery dish as the parade started. The main star of the parade was a fox. A nine tailed fox. The nine tailed fox.

Hinata and Naruto both gasped in shock at the realization that this was a festival celebrating the Kyuubi. Naruto was completely frozen stiff. So it fell to Hinata to ask the closest person "W-why a-are y-you c-celebrating t-the k-Kyuubi?"

To which the man just stared at her with a 'what the hell?' expression on his face, until he saw the forehead protectors on them "Ah your Konoha Shinobi, then I guess you wouldn't really appreciated the Kyuubi after what he did to your village. While it is true that the Kyuubi caused chaos and destruction, the fires left in his wake helped to fertilize the ground. The Kyuubi, despite his red fur, was an Inari fox, if it wasn't for the Kyuubi then none of the people of this city would be here, for this is a heavily agriculturally based city, with the surrounding farms providing the goods we sell here. With out the Kyuubi's flames there would be no plants, no plants no farms no farms no city, so every year around this time we celebrate Kyuubi-Sama's existence and await his replacement from Inari."

Hinata could only nod, finding it hard to believe the demon fox that had caused so much death and damage could possibly be viewed in such a noble light. So she just sat there in silence with the still stunned Naruto as the festival dragged on. After spending several hours at the festival Naruto and Hinata found themselves heading back to the hotel as it started to get dark. As they got to the door Naruto stopped "Hay Hinata.'

"Y-yes n-Naruto-kun?" came the stuttering reply from Hinata

"This was fun, we should do it again." Finished Naruto as he walked inside. Only to dash back out as he heard a thud. There was Hinata passed out on the ground. Picking her up and carrying her inside he stopped when he saw both Jiraiya and Sasuke sitting across the room staring at him with perverted smiles on there faces. Blinking Naruto wondered what that look was about, then he felt Hinata shift in his arms as she snuggled up closer to his chest. Blushing the reddest red Naruto yelled "It's not like that!" which was followed by the laughter from both Sasuke and Jiraiya. Gently putting Hinata down on her bed he turned around to see Jiraiya whistling innocently and Sasuke reading an Icha Icha book.

The second Jiraiya saw the book he stopped and stared, before laughing. Confused Sasuke and Naruto stared at him before their silent question was answered "I see even children such as yourself Sasuke read my work."

Blinking once, twice, three times Naruto and Sasuke stared at Jiraiya in pure shock. Before they both simultaneously asked "You write Icha Icha?" receiving a nod from Jiraiya, just as he was about to go into his dance introducing himself he was stopped when Sasuke said "Can you sign my book?" while suddenly been right in front of him with the fan girl look in his eyes.

At the same time Naruto snorted in disgust before groaning "Why are all my teachers perverts?"

Both Sasuke and Jiraiya answered at once "It's your destiny, come over to the pervy side, we have porn."

Groaning once more Naruto just climbed onto the bunk above Hinata's before saying "well I'm going to sleep." Leaving Sasuke and Jiraiya alone to talk all about Icha Icha.

When Naruto awoke the following morning he found Sasuke and Hinata attempting to awaken Jiraiya from a deep sleep most likely caused by the sake flask in his hand. Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, he grabbed a waterfall from the box next to Jiraiya's bunk bed, 'Pervert probably left them for me to train with.' And held it over his head. Then Naruto started stage one of the Rasengan. Less then a second later Jiraiya was covered in an explosion of water.

Awaking with a cough and a splutter Jiraiya glared at Naruto, the water dripping from Naruto's hand and face a sign of his guilt. Flashing Jiraiya his foxy smile Naruto said "I finished learning step one."

Jiraiya could only stare in muted horror. 'How could a Genin, with less then a year under his belt master the first step of the Rasengan in a day?' Breathing in deeply to regain his composure Jiraiya said "Well then, I'll have to start you on step two then."

**

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AN:**

Wow, sorry for the month long wait, again. Unlike the last chapter I don't really have that much of a reason, besides the fact that this arc (the whole Tsunade hunting arc) is rather hard to right, kinda cus it reminds me a lot of cannon. I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to diverge it from cannon, cus cannons just boring. So hopefully I think of something, and expect to see the beginning of Hinata and Sasuke's training under Jiraiya (Cough ignoring them cough)

oh and for some reason i found myself switching to first person after naruto woke up, i changed it back but if i missed something feel free to point it out.

Few points:

Naruto's change of heart regarding training:

In the last chapter we see Naruto as rather upset at Jiraiya, mostly over having his teacher and more or less father, replaced so shortly after his death. This however changed after Itachi. Naruto say that he stood no chance against the two nuke Nin. He Saw Hinata and Sasuke injured. And he realized, he needed to be stronger. So he put aside his anger and frustration, and grief, and insisted on getting stronger

The high speed learning of Rasengan:

Well as far as I know there are two tricks to this step, the first is enough control to spin your chakra and the second I realizing that it must go in opposite directions. Naruto has 'good' control thanks to Kakashi training him for a long time, however it's not perfect, not the level it should be for the Rasengan (closer then cannon Naruto thou) however he makes up for this through power. His spirals are not perfect and as such are not as efficient as they should be, but by overloading them he can counteract this affect so it appears he has more control then he does. Of course there is a down side to this.

The Kyuubi festival:

As I said earlier the Kyuubi is not evil, nor is it good. It destroys, but it also creates. The Kyuubi is a part of the natural cycle, just like every other animal. As for the whole Inari fox thing, I don't know if the Kyuubi is, probably isn't, but that's not the point. The people of the village believe the Kyuubi is an Inari fox and that's what matters.

I hope everyone enjoyed the little dateish thing between Naruto and Hinata. This is Naruto spending time with Hinata to determine how far his feelings go. Are they just feeling of friendship and camaraderie or are they something deeper.

One final the story hit over one hundred thousand hits between last and this chapter. I would like to thank everyone who has read this so far and thank you for making this possible.

A full stats list

Words: 93,444 (~ 96 935 with this chapter)

Chapters: 24 (25 with this chapter)

Reviews: 344 (remarkable)

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Favourites: 252

Alerts: 381 (nearly one review for every alert, I think that's amazing)

I'm glad that everyone likes this story, and I hope you all continue to enjoy it until its distant conclusion.


	26. The fun and pain of training

**Outside Kakou:

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**

Team seven stood in the standard triangle pattern, with Naruto at the front, Sasuke and Hinata behind him on his left and right respectively. All three were stared at Jiraiya awaiting instruction. Jiraiya was sweating nervously, not because of any sort of fear related to the trio's stares, but the blank emotionless looks on Hinata and Sasuke's faces. 'Looks you only see on ROOTs.' Thought Jiraiya wearily, wondering just what happened in the SRP.

Attempting to distract himself from the disturbing looks Jiraiya began his instructions, "Sasuke, Hinata, its time you two learnt something. Hinata, I want you to learn Suiton: Mizurappa, It is used to summon water to the battlefield, while the amount is limited by your chakra supply it is one of the most basic techniques Suiton users learn, because without water they can't fight." After saying that Jiraiya used the snake hand sign and took a deep breath in, before bowing and exhaling a large puddle's worth of water, "While I can summon a lot more water that was an easy amount to demonstrate with and even that small amount can be extremely useful when used correctly."

Focusing on Sasuke Jiraiya resumed his instructions once more, "From what I've heard you know a range of Jutsu, but they are all long to mid range. However if you are caught up in a Taijutsu fight you be destroyed by anyone with experience in Taijutsu." He saw that Sasuke was about to protest but cut him off "There are four requirements to good Taijutsu, First: style, if you don't have a Taijutsu style you will waste energy and be extremely vulnerable to those who do. You have the Uchiha Taijutsu style, considered to be the strongest Taijutsu style thanks to the constant refinement by incorporating other Taijutsu styles through the use of the Sharingan. Second: Strength, no matter how fancy your Taijutsu style is it won't matter if you land a thousand ineffective punches, without strength you can't damage your opponent and when they do get their strike in your out. Three: Speed, your strength is of no good to you if you're too slow to hit your target, just like your style is no good if you're too slow to react to your opponent's movements. The final and most important requirement for Taijutsu is experience. Experience will beat power ninety nine times out of a hundred. People have beaten others who were faster, stronger and had better styles, all because they have the experience to utilize their skills. You could be the most skilled Taijutsu specialist on paper, but if you don't have the experience of how to use that skill it won't matter once bit against someone who does. That is why you will be learning Raiton: kuuden, it will not make up for your lack of experience, but nothing other then real combat will, this Jutsu will give you a slight edge that could keep you alive." Slowly running through four hand seals Jiraiya completed the Jutsu but nothing seemed to happen. That was until he touched Sasuke, giving him a nice zap. "Raiton: kuuden charges your body so that when someone touches it they get a shock, its not enough to cause damage but it will distract the opponent and encourage them not to touch you. There are drawbacks so don't try and use it for too long, it will end badly."

Finally Jiraiya started focusing on Naruto "Its time you learnt the second step." Tossing Naruto a rubber ball he grabbed his own as Naruto stared in confusion "Step one was spin. Step two, is power." With that the rubber ball in Jiraiya's hand began to violently flex like the water balloon had before exploding just like the water balloon. "The rubber ball has both a stronger shell and is filled with air, not water, making it harder to spin." With his instructions completed Jiraiya started back to town "I'll be gathering more information."

Naruto would have replied if he wasn't busy trying to pop the rubber ball. 'Come on! I can do this!' Naruto mentally shouted as he focused his chakra like he had with the water balloon 'Spin! Spin! Spin!' The top of the rubber balloon was spinning slightly like a spinning top that was loosening its momentum. However no matter how much Naruto concentrated on the spinning of his chakra it wouldn't break, or even flex.

Of to the side Sasuke wasn't having much luck with his Jutsu; the hand seals were easy enough, especially for an Uchiha, who have excellent eyesight even without their Sharingans. However the Jutsu refused to work, well it wasn't that the Jutsu wasn't working, it was the Jutsu wasn't working the right way. On Sasuke's first attempt the Jutsu seemed to work, but when he touched Hinata, attempting to shock her, nothing happened. Well something happened, she turned around and fell to the ground laughing. The reason? Sasuke's hair. The Jutsu had somehow instead of charging his entire body it charged his hair, the result was every hair was stretched out attempting to get away from every other hair, this had the effect of making the poor Uchiha look like a hedgehog in severe need of a haircut had made its home where his hair was supposed to be. When Naruto turned to see what was so funny he too fell to the ground, clutching his sides in pain from the intense laughter. The Uchiha just glared at his teammates before returning to his training, attempting to ignore his teammate's laughter.

The young Hyuga was the only one of the trio actually succeeding in their Jutsu…kind of. When Hinata attempted the technique a palm sized puddle appeared where as Jiraiya had easily summoned a rather large puddle's worth of water. 'Maybe more chakra?' the shy Hyuga thought to herself, however her theory proved incorrect when instead of increasing the puddles size it decreased to three quarters its original size. Several attempts later the puddle had still yet to grow to anything more then palm sized. Finally in her frustration Hinata ignored trying to control her chakra and just threw most her chakra into the Jutsu. This was probably the kunoichi's best and word decision regarding this Jutsu. If not for Kakashi's intense training then the amount of water summoned might have been about half that of Jiraiya's. If it wasn't for Hinata's freakishly strong water affinity the water might have formed an extremely large puddle about twice that of Jiraiya's. However Hinata's massive increase in chakra reserves since her graduation and her freakish affinity resulted in the same volume of water as in a normal in ground house pool suddenly shooting from her mouth at high pressure. The result, Hinata shooting into the air and a wave of water sending Naruto and Sasuke crashing into the tree line.

As Sasuke recovered from the impact with a tree he saw Hinata falling head first to the ground, jumping up he begins to run towards her, in the hope of catching her, only for Hinata to flip midair and come to a soft landing, undoubtable soften with chakra, on her feet. Hinata smiles at Sasuke while saying "Thanks for trying Sasuke."

"Wow Hinata, You're really awesome been able to learn your Jutsu already." Yelled Naruto, resulting in Hinata blushing, something she had yet to get over, and with a very slight stutter said "I-its n-nothing. B-besides, Jiraiya-san said he was going to teach me Suiton: Teppodama, I think he only taught me this Jutsu so I'd have water to use for the Teppodama."

"Oh…It's kinda like this Jutsu." Naruto pointed to the rubber ball. "I haven't learnt the actual Jutsu yet; I'm learning the steps to perform it."

Hinata gave Naruto a soft smile "So what are the steps?" she asked wanting to shift the attention away from her.

"Um…the first was spinning. I had to make the water spin and pop the water balloon. But I don't know what step this is. I am still spinning but I have to pop a rubber ball. It seems like its just more spinning."

"Um…Could it be power?" Hinata half suggested and half asked.

Naruto stared blankly before tilting his head to the side. "Huh?" was Naruto's confused response.

This time Sasuke answered, speaking for the first time in this conversation, "Power baka, if the first step was learning to spin and the second step is more spinning, and then the difference is that you need a lot more power to do the second step. The first to teach you to spin the second to teach you to spin at full power."

The expression on Naruto's face could best be described as 'Oh I'm the biggest idiot in the history of idiots'. "Well…that does make sense." Returning his attention to the ball Naruto focuses three times as much chakra as he used in the first step. The ball began to shake violently before a small hole formed and the ball deflated. "Aw that's not how it's supposed to go."

"If you got that from putting more chakra in, why don't you try even more chakra?" suggested Hinata as Sasuke was busy attempting to get his Jutsu to work properly and not turn his hair spiky.

"Thanks Hinata-Chan." Yelled Naruto before returning his attention to the rubber ball, "But I broke the rubber ball. Hay guys I'll be back soon I'm sure they have another in town." And before anyone could say anything Naruto was running off into the distance.

"Um…Sasuke…Isn't there a sheer drop into town that way?" asked a confused and worried Hinata.

Her reply was a simple uncaring "Yep."

Feeling her worry double she asked "Naruto's smart enough not to run off it right?"

Sasuke's still uncaring response came in the form of another simple word one "Nope."

"Shouldn't we do something?" Hinata asked feeling dread about the fate that awaited her…her something...eh I guess her Naruto.

"Nope." Sasuke replied again, this time shrugging and going back to his Jutsu.

While this did little to clam the worrying Hyuga she decided that it would be best if she went to work 'Surely Naruto-kun's smart enough not to run off the edge, and even if he did somehow, accidently, run off the edge he'd be fine. Right?' Feeling her confidence drain away Hinata activated her Byakugan, only to see Naruto plummeting down the cliff face screaming. "Naruto-KUN!" Screamed Hinata. She attempted to race forwards to do, something she wasn't quite sure what but defiantly something. Only for Sasuke to grab her, giving her a nasty static shock, and shake his head. Turning her attention away from Sasuke, who was clearly attempting to interfere in her attempt to rescue Naruto, and focusing on Naruto she, saw that she was too late. Hinata collapsed to ground as she saw Naruto only five metres off the ground. There was no hope for her to save him. Then her heart stopped. Naruto created Kage Bunshin. The Bunshin grabbed Naruto and threw him up into the air, again and again, reducing the speed at which he was falling until he hit the ground with a soft thud. 'Naruto-kun, you shouldn't worry me like that' Hinata thought to herself, before turning around the see a smirking Sasuke who merely said

"I told you so." At which he returned to his work on the Jutsu, this time attempting to increase the voltage resulting in a greater shock.

It was mid noon when Naruto finally returned, a large box of rubber balls held between his arms. "I got a box of balls." He yelled out to his friends. Hinata blushed and hit the ground with a thud; no matter how much time she spent around the duo there were some things she would not get use to. Sasuke on the other hand just started giggling. Naruto was completely oblivious to his teammates' responses as the large box blocked his sight, that was until he heard the thud that accompanied Hinata harsh meeting with the ground. moving the box slightly to allow him to see his teammates Naruto saw Hinata on the floor, glowing bright red everywhere, and Sasuke standing there giggling in the generic pervert manner.

It wasn't until Sasuke decided to make a joke did Naruto understand the hidden innuendo in the sentence he yelled out. "So that's why you always ignored Hinata and Icha Icha, your into Yaoi." Naruto blushed bright red, while nowhere near Hinata's level, she was a true master after all, it was abnormally bright. All Naruto could do as he attempted to put the box down was stutter out partially completed denials as the complete shock and horror of such a thing sent shivers down his bones.

Doing his best to ignore his perverted teammate Naruto grabbed a rubber ball from the box and held it in his hand while he attempted to spin it like in step one but with much more chakra. Just as the ball began to shake like the last rubber ball the side blew out. While the hole was larger then before, from pinkie to thumb size, it still wasn't the explosion it was meant to be. "STUPID BALL!" an enraged Naruto yelled as he sent the ball flying off into the forest. Still angry over the stupid rubber ball Naruto grabbed another one and started pumping it with chakra until it started to glow blue, then he pumped even more chakra into the ball. However despite the horrendous amount of chakra inside the ball it wouldn't burst.

That's when Sasuke spoke up "Naruto, your meant to spin the chakra it doesn't look like its spinning." While this was meant to be helpful it served to distract Naruto from pumping a continuous stream of chakra into the ball. The result was predictable, the bottom of the ball exploded sending a torrent of chakra back through Naruto's hand. Like when pumping air into a container and suddenly cutting the pressure, it all rushes back into the pipe, or in this case Naruto's hand.

A horrible scream filled the air as Naruto collapsed to the ground, trying to hold his hurt hand only resulted in another shriek of agony. Sasuke rushed towards Naruto to offer him help, Hinata activated her Byakugan and gasped. The chakra pathways in Naruto's hand were covered in cuts, most likely caused by the force of the chakra as it tried to renter his chakra system. This was the worst injury. While his hand was one gigantic chakra burn, the cuts in his chakra network allowed chakra flowing through the network to leak out into his hand. This was a two fold problem, not only was this leaking chakra increasing the severity of the burns in Naruto's hand, he was low on chakra from forcing that much chakra into the rubber ball then having it explode back into his network, cancelling out an equal amount of chakra. 'If I don't cut the chakra flow in his hand right now he might die or at best lose the hand.' Acting quickly Hinata shot forwards inflicting a series of Juken strikes that cut of chakra flow to his entire hand.

However that's when Naruto started screaming again "Turn it back on!" he managed to yell through the incredible pain. Words could not describe the feeling. Later Naruto would say the best description would be replacing the blood in his hand with liquid metal. Despite that pain he managed to yell out "Chakra…Reg…en..er…a aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" he was cut off as another howl of pain forced it was from his lips.

Luckily for Naruto Sasuke managed to figure out what he meant. Sasuke knew that the Kyuubi could heal this, even if the Kyuubi didn't try and heal him Naruto's own regenerative abilities, which he picked up from the fox, would aid in his recover however that required chakra, something Hinata had just blocked. Just as Sasuke was about to relay this information to Hinata a loud voice began to boom within their heads **"HYUGA! Unseal that chakra now." **

Hinata began to shake like a leaf, even though she had heard that voice in her head before, even though she know the Kyuubi wasn't a mindless killing demon, it always seemed to trigger that primitive fear response. The overwhelming desire to drop to the ground and pull yourself into a small ball, a sign of submission and an attempt to avoid a predator that meant certain death. It was only due to her ninja training that Hinata remained standing, as petrified as she was, "B-but t-that w-will k-kill h-him." was the fearfully stuttered response. A response the demon was not happy with.

"**Foolish human, if it came to that I could regenerate his entire hand. I do not however wish to die any faster then I am. So I will not heal him myself, but the chakra that this seal forcibly drains from me should heal him. His chakra pathways were beginning to regenerate the missing pieces when you interfered. Now undo it or ELSE!" **Was the terror inspiring reply that awaited the young Hyuga. Despite the intense fear Hinata felt, despite the boiling rage she felt from the demon at been questioned, despite the pain that was somehow leaking through the mental connection she shared with her teammates, Hinata managed to will herself to comply. With a few taps, which sent Naruto into pain filled screaming, she undid the damage she had done in hopes of saving him.

Yet when that first scream tore itself from Naruto's mouth as Hinata was reopening the chakra points Hinata couldn't help but feel her heart breaking into a thousand pieces. She had inflicted such a horrible pain onto the person closest to her, what's worse is that she inflicted this pain willingly. It mattered not that when she did it she thought she was doing the best thing for Naruto, only that she did, and that he was now suffering extra pain due solely to her.

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AN:

Wow, it's been forever, over a month since I gave you that horrible an. And to make things worse this chapter (I was just re-reading this and noticed I said chakra not chapter) is rather fillerish. Yes Naruto did hurt his hand badly, which will not magically heal in a day. It will take time, time in which Naruto can't really do much but watch his friends learn (I bet he'll have fun).

Anyways I'd like to say that you can expect regular updates after this…but I'd be lying. To be perfectly honest I've been finding it difficult to want to sit down and write this arc. However it has to be done, so I hope you can all just bare with me.

On a happier note, with this chapter this story is officially over one hundred thousand words. I would like to thank everyone who's read the story, especially those of you who have reviewed, while I haven't got a chance until now I have made sure to read all the reviews I've got.

Jutsu review:

Suiton: Mizurappa

I originally used Suiton: Bakusui Shōha (The Jutsu Kisame used vs Gai to summon all the water) but while browsing the Naruto wiki I discovered this Jutsu, used by one of Peins bodies. It was labelled a basic Jutsu and I figured it would be a better option. The goal is to create water, Pein used it as a weapon to wash ninja away, but it could easily be used to summon water to use in combat. I'll explain that whole thing bellow.

Raiton: kuuden - kuuden translates to Static

An Original technique which as Jiraiya said makes the users body electrified and shocks anyone who touches it. I doesn't work as well if you touch a clothed part (say their shirt) but there is a minor shock even if its just that. There are risks as Jiraiya said and I may or may not end up showing them.

Like all the original Jutsu I've used or plan to use, I have it recorded with all relevant information (rank, chakra usage, description ect) If you guys would like me to start posting that with the Jutsu just say so.

Elemental Jutsu

One of the most basic rules of elemental Jutsu is that they require the base element to use. You can't use a wind Jutsu if there is no wind (well air), though you would have other things to worry about if there was no air. No water? No water Jutsu. No earth (other things to worry about) no earth Jutsu ect.

So you must be asking yourself, 'If they need the elements where do they get them from?' well the answer is simple. Its rather obvious if the Jutsu is wind or earth, cus well they are everywhere. Its when you start using other Jutsu that it's a problem. Water Jutsu are commonly drawn from a pre-existing source of water such as a river or lake, however is such water is lacking it can be drawn straight from the air, although this removes water from the air and is extremely chakra draining. The alternative to drawing water from the air is to summon water using a Jutsu. This works because of the way the ninja manipulate the elements. When you take a small amount of water and add water chakra to it the amount of water increases, and theoretically you could draw water chakra from existing water, but for this story that's never been done and isn't planned to be (Not to sure on natural chakra but its probably based on drawing chakra from all the elements around you). However there is a massive chakra cost to this, so a work around was created, through the use of elemental chakra you can start a chain reaction that draws more and more of the element to the source. Its like making a snowball then rolling it down a snow covered hill, as it rolls it picks up more and more snow. This works great for wind and earth Jutsu and water when you have a source. But what about fire, lightning and water without a source.

Well that is where it becomes more complicated; performing Jutsu of these three types takes more chakra then the other two due the requirement for the creation of the element. In the case of lightning Jutsu the bodies own bio-electric field is used as a base and large amounts of chakra are used to create lightning Jutsu. Similarly with water Jutsu water within the body is used. However there is no fire in the body, that's why of the five elements fire is the most chakra intensive. The fire necessary is created by using super heated chakra to literally ignite the air in front of the mouth. While this would be truly a massive drain of chakra it's not as only the tiniest of flames is created which is then increased through the use of elemental chakra. However due to the initial burst of fire chakra required the chakra drain is the highest of all elements.

So how does this make Hinata's Jutsu work? Well the user first gathers as large an amount of water in their mouth as possible (many ways, such as saliva) then adds water element chakra to the water to increase its size while spitting the water out from their mouth. Once they are done the user now has an external supply of water to use and performs Jutsu. This water supply can also be directly manipulated prior to release, like Kisame's Jutsu for summoning the tidal wave.


	27. Regret, Reflections and Rain

**Kakou: Motel room:

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It was hours ago that Naruto sliced the chakra pathways in his hand to pieces. Luckily the chakra pathways regenerated before Naruto's chakra levels reached a dangerous level, however this did not mean that Naruto was fine, he had lost the use of the hand. When Jiraiya first saw the hand a loud gasp escaped his lips, never had he seen such severe chakra burns, the closest anything he came was burn victims from fire Jutsu. Naruto's entire right hand was blackened, as if he had covered it in super glue before submerging it in a pile of soot. Naruto's few attempts to move his hand, in between bouts of intense pain, were futile, apparently chakra burns from the inside out, a common reason ninja die from them, as apparently minor burns actually can cause major internal injuries. In this case it was as if Naruto's hand had been cooked through and through, the nerve endings were damaged beyond use, the only bright side is the damaged nerves reduced the pain.

Hinata stood at Naruto's bedside, having been unwilling to leave him since the accident; both Jiraiya and Sasuke believed she blamed herself for Naruto's condition. If only it was that simple. Hinata knew she was responsible. She had suggested he increase the chakra output. She had interrupted Naruto's concentration. She had sealed his Tenketsu, interfering with the healing process. Yet she could not bring herself to feel guilty. That truly scared her. Over the past week she had felt as if something was off. It was the little things, her bond towards her teammates felt stronger, her rapid acceptance of a Jiraiya as their team captain, the oddly subdued feelings of loss over Kakashi's death, and her murder of the sound ninja. While Hinata understood that she should feel a tight bond with her teammates, and that they had been through life and death situations, the type that tends to bring people together, she also knew that she felt far closer to her teammates then she should have, almost as if they were her family. The acceptance of Jiraiya as her team captain was even stranger, when Hinata had first been assigned to team seven she had been afraid, afraid of what her teacher would be like, what he would think of her, afraid of leaving Iruka and accepting a new teacher, yet Jiraiya had slid into place almost instinctively. When she heard Kakashi had sacrificed himself against Orochimaru, she felt sorrow, regret, pain, all the emotions that one feels in such a situation, yet it wasn't the presences of the emotions that was strange, it was their strength, ever since she was little Hinata had been an extremely caring girl, she had cried for days when her pet butterfly died, yet the news of Kakashi's death, a man who was more her father then her real father, had left her in tears for mere minutes. Finally there was her murder of the sound ninja. It was murder because there is no other word to describe it, she didn't need to kill them, she could have disabled them, left them incapacitated for the rest of the day, damaged their muscles so they couldn't move, various other things, instead she brutally killed them all just like the demon brother whose heart she liquefied. She killed them all without a single thought, like they were nothing more than bugs.

To Hinata none of that mattered compared to now. She knew she should feel guilty about what happened, she had in the past. In the academy, when Hinata stalked Naruto, Hinata would feel guilty whenever Naruto was hurt, guilty she didn't help him, guilty she wasn't there to comfort him, guilty she didn't do anything about it. Yet now, when she was the direct cause of Naruto's pain, Naruto's suffering, and she couldn't bring herself to feel guilty, to blame herself, all she could think was 'Training accident' as a cold numbness filled her. That was what frightened her, that was why she was afraid to leave Naruto's side, the fear that the numbness would consume her, leaving a monster.

The sound of blankets moving shook Hinata out of her introspective thoughts and dragged her back to reality. Naruto sat up in his bed starting, almost longingly, at his right hand. The first words to leave his mouth were "It hurts." They were followed quickly by shouts, "I can't move my hand!" From there it was a short jump to Naruto yelling and curing the Kyuubi, "Why didn't you heal my hand? Why?"

Unfortunately during Naruto's rant he forgot to make it clear exactly who he was yelling at. Hearing these words Hinata, who was already depressed over her lack of guilt, could feel her heart been torn to pieces. The one she loved the one she wanted to spend the rest of her days with, her Naruto. Was blaming her for his injuries. She couldn't take it. It was too much. She was turning into an emotionless monster, and her ray of light in this dark work, her hope, was cursing her. Hinata fell to her knees; face down on Naruto's bed, tears freely flowing from her eyes. The word "Sorry." been sobbed repeatedly.

Naruto just stared down at her, confused by her strange behaviour. This staring seemed to go on forever, before Naruto's brain caught up and realized what he had to do. Reaching down he grabbed Hinata with his working hand, and wrapped his right around her as he pulled her from the floor into his embrace. To Hinata's every sorry Naruto responded in a quite soothing voice, "Its ok, it's ok."

This left the young Genin confused "b-but…don't you b-blame m-me for not h-healing you?" was her sobbed question, her stutter having returned during this time of emotional suffering.

Naruto just stared at his teammate, the one who loved him, the girl he watched grow from a stuttering mess into a Kunoichi in just a few months."Hinata, I don't blame you, it's the Kyuubi."

Staring up into Naruto's face, tear stained streaks down her face, "R-really?" Hinata's eyes screamed how her heart was resting upon that question.

Smiling down at her Naruto nodded "Yeah, it's not your fault, as long as I can remember my injuries have always healed over night, it wasn't until I learnt of the Kyuubi that I discovered the reason. I thought it healed me so that I wouldn't be vulnerable and die, dragging it with me, but now I'm not so sure. This injury has crippled my ability to use any Jutsu, with the exception of my Sharingan, until it heals. It's exactly the type of injury that the Kyuubi would heal if I was right, so why?"

Whatever Hinata's response would have been was cut off when the booming voice of the Kyuubi appeared, still no less shocking then the first day it manifested in their heads **"You have a team."**

Hinata and Naruto in a rare moment of perfect synchronicity both asked, verbally, "huh?"

A low rumbling growl was their answer **"I told you, every time my chakra passes the gates of this accursed seal I draw closer to my inevitable death, healing you takes chakra. Why do you think of joined you and your team? Your own benefit? Having someone to protect you means I don't need to waste my chakra doing so. I want every last second of my life possible."**

While Naruto didn't seemed to mind this acknowledgement Hinata found herself a little disgusted, 'I'm been used to extend the life of the greatest monster in existence?' What Hinata didn't expect was the Kyuubi to be able to hear her thoughts.

"**Hyuga, I have saved my prisons life many times, If I did not exist he would have died the first time he summoned shadow clones, during that sealing, during the invasion, and countless other times.** **When I die he will shortly follow from his own stupidity."** The legendary beast snarled at the scrawny human who thought they could insult the great beast. **"As for the hand, it will heal with time; while I may not actively be healing the burns the portion of my chakra that is naturally siphoned off by the seal will heal it sooner or later."**

Conveniently Sasuke walked through the door at that exact moment, to see Hinata encircled in Naruto's embrace, standing over his bed, Naruto smiling down at Hinata, Hinata staring back up at him blushing. Both Hinata's and Naruto's heads snapped to his direction at once, all Sasuke could do was say "Sorry for interrupting, I'll come back later." Before walking out the door backwards.

The second Hinata realized she was still in Naruto's tight embrace she started blushing neon red, and Naruto joined in with a little faint blush of his own, as they awkwardly separated.

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**Main Street:

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Sasuke was wandering down the main street too ensnared in his own thoughts to notice the world surrounding him. He was so entranced that Itachi could walk right in front of him and he would never notice. At this Sasuke paused and looked around to make sure that Sasuke was not actually anywhere near him. Resuming his stroll down the street Sasuke tried to ward off the troubling thoughts that plagued him. 'Have I changed? Ever since that day I've between different. I know it's not obvious, but I've felt different, It's almost like I've lost some of my feelings. But that's impossible right?'

Shaking his head Sasuke tried to focus on different things, 'When Itachi showed up I was powerless, that blue guy, he was unstoppable. There is no way I could stop him close range. Long range won't work either, that sword of his, it sliced through my Jutsu like they weren't even there. I couldn't even try to outlast him, from the levels of chakra I saw flowing off him, and he must have insane chakra levels. How do you kill a monster like him? If I can't kill him I'll never defeat Itachi. I couldn't even leave Naruto to face that guy while I took Itachi, we promised to defeat him together.'

"Gah" yelled Sasuke as he shook his head, feelings of hopelessness surging in his mind; forcing the feelings back Sasuke resumed thinking 'What if? What if I attacked him from long distance, if I used some sort of long range high speed attack maybe I could surprise him, kill him before he knew I was there. That could do it, it's perfect. Naruto loves close to mid range combat, Hinata is deadly at close range, but we don't have any long ranged fighters. I'm too much like Naruto, if I started learning long range combat, I could kill that blue creature and pin Itachi down for Naruto to trap.' Mentally running through his list of known Jutsu Sasuke discovered a problem 'I only know close to mid range Jutsu. I spent all this time training Jutsu to fall into a category Naruto is better at then me. No, I can't think like that, it doesn't matter if Naruto is better at me in close to mid range combat; I'm going to be a master sniper. I will kill my enemies without them ever knowing I'm there, I will become the shadow that strikes at Konoha's enemies without them even knowing he's there. I have to start training now, I can't waste anymore time.'

With that final thought Sasuke started off to the clearing team seven had claimed as their training ground, without a single thought to the dark nature of his thoughts, and how he didn't think twice about killing people he didn't know.

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**Kakou: Motel room:

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**

While Naruto and Hinata sat there blushing and looking away from each other an awkward silence filled the room. Time seemed to drag on forever, until Naruto turned back towards Hinata, as he opened his mouth to speak he was cut off by the voice of a familiar fox. "Naruto-Sama, since you are unable to train would you be willing to aid me in my training." Queried the small fox that seemed to appear from nowhere.

"Gah!" yelled Naruto as he fell backwards, Hinata giving a slight squeak at the foxes sudden appearance behind her, "How do you keep popping up like that with no warning?" was Naruto's response, a response spoken in a loud voice, a really loud voice.

The fox seemed to smirk, although biologically speaking that should be impossible as a foxes face was not designed to portray a smirk, "I'm a kitsune, remember? Disappearing and appearing instantly are as easy as breathing to me."

Feeling slightly stupid for forgetting that kitsune are master pranksters, so something as simple as appearing out of nowhere would be a piece of cake for them, Naruto decided to change the topic quickly "So what did you mean by training? Why do you need help training?"

The fox seemed to sigh, another ability it should not possess, "I want to get my tails back, the only way to do that is to get stronger, which you do by training."

While this did answer Naruto's question it failed to illicit the fox's desired response of him shutting up and helping him, instead it prompted another question, "Why do you need be stronger to get your tails back? Don't kitsune grow additional tails with time?"

The fox sighed again, this thing seems to be an abomination, "Ok, let me explain the system governing then number of tails a kitsune has. All Kitsune start with one tail. Each tail has both strength and age requirements. That is why humans think that a fox gains tails with age not strength, as most foxes already met the strength requirement for the next tail but not the age. Each tail also multiplies your strength by a number depending on which tail it is, that is why foxes seek to be as strong as possible before they reach the age of their next tail, as it makes them just that much more powerful after they receive the tail. The multiplication factor of each success tail increases at an exponential rate." At this point Naruto has completely lost the fox, and it is evident on his face. "Ok…the stronger a fox is when it gets is next tail the stronger it is after it gets its tail. Ok?" receiving a nod he continues "An exponential tail growth means that the second two is twice as powerful as the first. The third tail is four times as powerful as the second tail, the fourth tail is eight times as powerful as the third, the fifth sixteen times greater than the fourth and so on, up until the ninth tail which is two hundred and fifty six times stronger than the eighth. That is one of the reasons why Kyuubi-dono is just that powerful. That is also why Kyuubi-dono has never been defeated, there is nowhere near two hundred and fifty eight tails, or enough foxes of lower strength to equal that much. Plus even if there was Kyuubi-dono's thousands of years of experience would lead to victory over the other foxes."

Naruto and Hinata just stare at the fox in awe, 'Each tail can hold so much strength?' they both think at once, before Naruto asks a question "Then, that means you're…um…"

Seeing that Naruto was having trouble with the math Hinata chimed in the answer "Sixty four."

Leading to Naruto continuing his sentence "Yeah…that means you're sixty four times weaker then when you fought Gaara with me. I think I understand why you would want to get your tails back then. How can I help?"

This time the fox smiled, when will it learn what a foxes body can and can't do? "It's simple, come with me, and tell no one of the things you see." The last was voiced with a clear warning of what would happen should Naruto reveal what the training consisted of.

"Um…ok." As Naruto got up and started out the door, he turned back and said "See you later Hinata-Chan." Before shutting the door behind him, leaving a blushing Hinata Hyuga behind.

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**Three days later: Kakou: Motel room:

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The door to the motel room where team seven and Jiraiya were staying slammed open, startling its occupants in the form of Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata. The figure standing in the doorway was concealed within the blackness that seemed to fill the air outside, a bright flash of lightning revealed the figure to be a highly inebriated Jiraiya as he stumbled into the room. "I found Tsunade, but we have to leave now!" declared the now prone Jiraiya as he lay collapsed on the motel floor.

"Now? We can't go now. Its pitch black outside, it's raining so hard that even if it wasn't pitch black you wouldn't be able to see, and your too drunk to even stand let alone travel through these conditions. We need to wait till morning" a clearly distressed Hinata exclaimed, although whether she truly felt this is an incorrect choice for the reasons she specified or if it was due to concern over the injury to Naruto's hand which had yet to heal and as a result left his right hand extremely painful to use, which could prove dangerous when travelling in such conditions.

Jiraiya shot to his feet as he instantly become the serious ninja he was renowned as, one of the legendary Sannin. "Tsunade was spotted in Tanzaku Gai, but we have to get there now, there are rumours that suggest Orochimaru may be in the area looking for Tsunade. Kakashi gave his life to injure Orochimaru; if he can get Tsunade to heal him then Kakashi would have died in vain. We have to find her before him!"

Within five minutes team seven was setting out into the raging storm to try and beat Orochimaru to Tanzaku Gai.

**AN:

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Wow it's been forever since I last posted a chapter. Honestly I don't have much of a reason other than my muse has been very very cruel. Taunting me with ideas as I lie awake trying to sleep but the second I sit down to write she abandons me. However I managed to finish of what I had done on this chapter tonight, although I should warn you that due to the late time its probably more rough than usual, and while it may not still be Christmas where I am it is in most of the world, so Merry Christmas/happy whatever-holiday-you-celebrate/have a nice day.

If I'm lucky I'll be able to write a lot more during the long break until I start university, hopefully I'll have another chapter sooner than the four month wait for this one. In the mean time I present this little Christmas omake

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**Ninjamas** **in Oto:

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Many people would believe that Oto wouldn't celebrate Ninjamas as the celebration of love, caring and gift giving doesn't seem to fit with the cruel heartless image that the missing Nin of Oto represent. However these people would be wrong, for missing ninja are the biggest celebrators of ninjamas in the ninja world. To many Ninjamas is a day for celebration, a time to rejoice amongst friends and family, however for the nuke nin it is something else, a day of peace. For no village sends hunter Nin after missing ninja on ninjamas, so ninjamas is a day for the missing Nin to relax and enjoy their far too often short lives. A time to reflect upon their choices in life and a time to enjoy themselves, as such it's not surprising that crime jumps up fifty percent on ninjamas and the majority of applications for asylum to villages by nuke Nin occurs in the week following ninjamas.

However an Oto Shinobi doesn't worry about such things, they don't have to hide from the hunter Nin as they live within the 'safety' of Oto, they don't commit any additional crimes for fear of been 'chosen' by Orochimaru for 'enhancement' and they don't apply for asylum as they already have a village to live in. Yet Oto is the ninja world's largest purchaser of ninjamas related items prior to ninjamas. There have been many theories as to why, such as Orochimaru likes to give himself gifts, they are play things for the children he kidnaps to 'play' with, or that he's attempting to weaponise them and use them to wipe of the ninja villages.

The truth however is much sadder, for you see when Orochimaru was a mere Genin of twelve years old he was told on ninjamas that his parents had died from injuries sustained during a mission. He spent half the day crying before he finally returned home to open his last presents from his parents. Just as he reached for the first present his parents jumped out from behind the presents, Orochimaru thinking they were imposters trying to kill him nailed them both in the head with a kunai. Unfortunately it turns out that there had been a mix up in the Hokage's office and that Orochimaru's parents had never died and that it was some random Genin from one of the other academy classes that the message was intended for.

From that day onwards Orochimaru always celebrated ninjamas and made sure that everyone else did as a way of always remembering his parents, no matter how sick and twisted he became. The punishment for failing to celebrate ninjamas in Oto? Orochimaru paralyses you with a potent mixture of venoms, drugs and toxins that leave you completely incapable of any motion other then basic life support functions, such as breathing and heart beat, whilst double pain and preventing the victim from falling unconscious. The person is then fed to the smallest possible python that could eat the person. And slowly over the course of several hours they are eaten whole to die slowly as the snake's digestive track dissolves away the body.

So if you find yourself in Oto on Ninjamas be sure to remember to celebrate, or else.


	28. The Race is On

**Unknown:

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The winds howled, a loud crack sounded as lightning pierced the sky; the pounding rain turned the blackness of the world around them white. Every sane person was locked up in their houses, windows boarded, praying their homes would make it through the storm. Massive storms like this use to occur once every ten to twenty years in fire country; there have been five within the last decade. Experts believe that the sudden increase in both strength of occurrence has to do with the death of the Kyuubi. As that is the only major event that could be associated with the change in weather in recent years, further compounding this believe, as well as the weather problems, is the rapid decrease in the massive forest fires that the land of fire was named after. In the past there was a forest fire once a year, they would burn thousands of acres of forest, farmland, and anything else in their way, but they served to rejuvenate the land. Over the past twelve years the time between forest fires has grown from yearly to once every three years. Resulting in the Land of Fire's food production falling due to the degradation of the formerly nutrient rich soil.

However the four ninja currently attempting to weather this storm could care less about the cause, and more about the insanity that they are facing. Attempting to make the journey from Kakou to Tanzaku Gai in this storm is suicide, yet these four brave ninja push on, they must reach Tanzaku Gai soon lest their prize fall into the hands of their greatest enemy.

A sudden scream cuts through the noise of the raging storm, following shortly by a shout of "Hinata!" Naruto rushes to where Hinata was, only to fit her former position vacant. "Hinata!" he screamed into the howling storm, hoping for a response.

"Naruto! HELP!" Was his reply running in the direction of Hinata's voice he arrives to see Sasuke and Jiraiya beat him to her, Hinata is trapped under a large branched, that must have broken off in the storm, luckily for Hinata Jiraiya and Sasuke manage to push the branch off her, Naruto been unable to help due to his injured hand.

Once Hinata is free Naruto starts yelling "We have to find shelter! We'll die if we stay out here any longer!"

"Your right!" was Jiraiya's reply, before several quick hand seals "Doton: engai no doryuu" slamming his hands down Jiraiya creates a giant dome of earth around the three ninja to protect them from the storm. "Don't worry, this technique is designed for situations like this, it has air holes that will keep the rain out but let the air in, and it should be safe enough to set camp here, although no fire as it will fill the dome with smoke."

Sasuke quickly inquired "Then how are we supposed to set up camp with no light?"

Chuckling Jiraiya pulled out a seal card and activated it, light filled the inside of the dome as the card glowed bright white, "This is a modified flash seal, slowing the usual instant burst of light into a glow that lasts thirty minutes, long enough to set up camp."

After ten minutes of trying, and failing, to set up tents in the wet ground that sloshed around them like thick mud the four ninja finally gave up and Jiraiya summoned a risen section of solid earth from the ground.

All three of his students could not help but alternate between staring at him and the platform, finally Sasuke managed to drag himself out of the shock that seemed to have consumed the three Genin. "How? You didn't use any hand seals or even call out a Jutsu name!"

"Oh that's what you guys were so shocked about it was just basic elemental manipulation, they covered that back at the academy." Jiraiya responded offhandedly, only to see the surprise upon his students faces had been replaced with confusion. "Don't try and tell me you don't know about that, I've seen you three use elemental chakra, you have to know about directly manipulating elements." His response was a synchronized head shake from the trio. "Come on it was covered in the second year of the academy for crying out loud."

This was the point where found it wise to speak up, "Um…No they didn't…second year was ninja history."

Jiraiya stared her with a cross between extreme confusion and the first signs of anger on his face, the poor girl couldn't help but shrink in on herself, only for Naruto and Sasuke to position themselves between Jiraiya and Hinata. Seeing the boy's movement caused the Sannin's attention to snap back to reality, where he began yelling, "What do you mean they taught you ninja history?! That's only useful to advanced strategists and the Hokage and they learn it themselves, there's no need for fresh Genin to learn that, the theory of spatial and elemental manipulation is key to Jutsu creation, how could they have taught you that without knowing the theory of spatial and elemental manipulation?!"

This time Sasuke was the one to speak up, "Uh…They didn't teach us that either."

Getting extremely angry Jiraiya yelled "Then what did they teach you then?!!"

"Uh, I didn't pay too much attention but from what I remember they taught us; Ninja history, math, Japanese, Civilian history, some basic Taijutsu exercises, how to summon our chakra, how to perform the twelve hand signs, Bunshin, Kawarimi and Henge. "

Jiraiya couldn't help but stutter in rage "T-They WHAT! When I was at the Academy they didn't teach of any of that history, instead there was the theory of spatial and elemental chakra manipulation, theory of Jutsu creation. The Taijutsu involved a test to determine which of the three styles at the academy was best for the student followed by advancing the student as far as they could in the style. Chakra was taught alongside the basic control exercisers of chakra directing and leaf floating. The theory behind why the twelve hand signs worked and what they did to the flow of chakra was taught alongside the actual signs, and finally every student was taught one of ten different offensive Jutsu and one of five defensive Jutsu. Do you seriously expect me to believe they cut all that out?!"

Seeing his three students' nod Jiraiya slumped to the ground in defeat. "When I get back I'm going to have a serious talk with the old man. But for now I will explain what I did; it is called direct elemental manipulation, a subset of elemental chakra manipulation, where a person focuses their elemental chakra into the matching element and uses it to bend the element to their will without the use of hand signs. This is typically not considered a form of Ninjutsu as it holds very few combat applications; the main application is small things like what I showed you. The reason is that direct elemental manipulation takes around a hundred times the chakra of a Ninjutsu with similar effects, this is because unlike a Ninjutsu where you are using your chakra to give the element a push and guide it in the direction you want, in direct elemental manipulation you force the element to bind to your will and do exactly what you want. So in exchange for extremely high chakra drain you get perfect control over the element."

Slightly confused at the explanation of why direct manipulation was better than a typical Jutsu Naruto inquired "How does perfect control of the element help? If I throw a fireball at you it doesn't matter if it's perfectly round or if it's jagged around the edges, either way you still turn into crispy toast."

Alternating between intense anger at the Academy for cutting vital classes and the surprise that his students were capable of elemental Jutsu with their lack of knowledge regarding the subject, Jiraiya decided to take the path of least resistance of groan before answering Naruto's question; "Your right for general things like that it doesn't matter, that's why standard elemental Ninjutsu is standard, however direct manipulation serves its role in the more obscure uses for Ninjutsu. No matter how hard you try, no matter how long you work, no matter how much effort you put into it you can never make a Jutsu that will go against the rules of an element, the prime example is wind; you can never use a regular Ninjutsu to create a vacuum, it goes against the very nature of the element. Direct Manipulation lets you ignore these rules and lets you force the element to do what you want, when you want and how you want it. Some even use a combination of regular Ninjutsu with direct manipulation. This allows them to bypass some of the rules of an element in exchange for higher chakra costs; Kakashi's Raikiri was one of the Jutsu that used this method."

Seeing his three charges slip into a somber mood at the mention of their recently deceased teacher Jiraiya decided that lecture time was over and it was time for sleep. "Finish setting up camp and get to sleep brats, there will be plenty of time for me to fix your deficient education after we find Tsunade."

Within ten minutes the tents were setup and the four ninja fast asleep.

**

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The following day:

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**

Jiraiya and his team, who have yet to either be officially transferred to Jiraiya's command or have received their new designation, depart the earthen dome at the crack of dawn, in hopes of making up for lost time. Only for their hopes to be dashed as they discovered the external weather conditions can be summed up in one word; Wet, Unimaginably Wet.

The soft porous that made the land of fire ideal for farming also meant that in heavy rain the entire countryside would turn to deep, thick and gooey mud. Every civilian knows that attempting to travel the day after a storm is impossible, of course Leaf ninja are all taught how to cross this mud using chakra, not unlike the water walking exercise. This would have allowed the four ninja to easily run across the mud, except for one thing, it was raining. While the rain was nowhere approaching that of the torrential downpour that accompanied the previous night's storm it was enough to thoroughly soak the four ninja in seconds.

The discomfort and health risks of being both wet and wearing wet clothing however were not the problem; the problem was the interference in their ability to traverse the muddy ground. Due to their saturated clothing the ninja weighted several kilograms heaver then they were use to, and while this on its own is insufficient to disrupt their ability to cross the sea of mud it did exacerbate the second problem. Normally the ground was somewhat traverse-able after a storm because the porous soil allowed the water to flow, preventing it from remaining waterlogged; however the water can't drain out of the soil if there is more water being added by the rain.

The end result was that the four Nin were left with but one option; wade through the mud. When Jiraiya announced his plan to do just that Naruto raised his voice in complaint "Are you crazy?! We can't wade through the mud, it's slow and we could be swept away in a mudslide!"

Jiraiya stared at Naruto; the grim look upon his face spoke volumes "We have no choice. We can't let Orochimaru reach Tsunade first, if she heals him odds are he will attack the village again, this time with our defenses down due to the invasion Konoha wouldn't stand a chance. Thousands would die; the entire village could be wiped out. This is one of the hard choices ninja have to make, Risking not only your life, but the lives of your comrades to protect the village."

**

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One Hour Later:

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**

"This is taking too long! I really didn't want to do this, but I guess there is no choice." Team seven stared at Jiraiya in confusion as his sudden outburst shattered the silence that had descended upon the quartet since their departure of the earthen dome. Their unspoken questions were answered when Jiraiya began a series of hand signs that while unfamiliar to Hinata and Sasuke was recognized by Naruto.

"He's summoning somet…" Naruto was cut off mid sentence as Jiraiya finished his hand signs and slammed his right hand onto the mud, the force of the impact causing the mud to temporarily solidify around his hand. Less than single second later the entire area was engulfed in a thick cloud of white smoke, while the trio of Genin were unaware of the size of the summon due to their position inside the smoke, an outside observer would have easily seen that the summon must be one of the top tier summons as the cloud of smoke was enormous.

As the smoke cleared the features of the summon slowly became apparent to the young Genin, the first and most obvious was that they were now standing at least a hundred meters about the mud, the second was that they were standing atop what appeared to be a gigantic shirt, and finally that whatever creature they were atop had a dark leathery skin.

"**JIRAIYA! WHY DID YOU SUMMON ME TO THIS MUD-HOLE!" **it was clear to even the most thickheaded of people that the summon, whatever it was, was very very angry at Jiraiya, however let it never be said that Naruto would allow a mere angry summon to stand in his way. Sliding down to the summons nose, where he realized that this looked kinda like a giant frog, Naruto decided it would be a wise idea to yell in the face of the gigantic summon, despite the little fact that it was over a hundred times his size.

"Hey you! What kind of summon do you think you are talking to your master like that? Who cares if he summoned you to a mud ball as a summon it's your responsibility to come to his aid when he needs you, and not complain!"

Years later when people heard of this story, of how he chastised the legendary Gamabunta; the boss summons of all toads, they would find themselves overcome with the desire to stare at Naruto, faces full of confusion, and ask the simple question of; Why are you alive? It was a question no one would ever be able to answer as no one, not even Naruto, knows the answer. Many suspect that the toad boss may have been a _little_ drunk when he was summoned, as instead of the expected crushing of the bug who decided stand on his nose and reprimand him, the great toad boss burst into laughter.

"**You seem to have picked up an interesting kid Jiraiya, too bad I can feel the taint of the fox contract on him, he could have made a great summoner. Now what do you want?!" **

Still in a state of complete and utter shock that the young Uzumaki brat had managed to survive insulting the toad frog, let alone get away without a single injury, Jiraiya couldn't help but stutter a few times in his response. "W-we need to get to Tanzaku Gai, W-we have to find Tsunade before Orochimaru does, or the leaf village will be destroyed."

For once not complaining the toad boss nodded his head and crouched down in preparation for a powerful jump, just before he took to the skies he gave one piece of advice; **"You may want to hold on kiddies!" **and with that the Gamabunta shot into the sky like a bullet, in a blink of an eye they were flying with the birds, only to began their very rapid decent back to earth. With an earth shattering explosion they hid the ground with such force that a lesser summon would have instantly dispelled. However this was no lower summon, this was the great toad boss, strongest of all the toad summons, and in seconds he was back in the air once more.

In a mere fifteen minutes they covered the majority of the distance between where they were and Tanzaku Gai, with the great toad stopping several kilometers away saying **"It's not safe to try and jump any closer." **Before he dispelled without warning, sending the four ninja who were just starting to recover after the insane ride they had just survived, for there truly was no other word for it, plummeting to earth.

Naruto and Jiraiya, both having some experience in falling from large heights, grabbed Hinata and Sasuke respectively and preformed a series of maneuvers to slow their descent, which in reality meant using Kage Bunshin to throw themselves upwards, offsetting some of the effect of gravity.

Despite their excellent execution of their landing techniques the duo still came to a hard landing, with Jiraiya dropping Sasuke just as he hit the ground, and Naruto ending up lying on the ground with Hinata sprawled atop him.

Staring into each other's eyes they seemed to be frozen in place, until they were snapped out of it by the yell of Jiraiya "Hurry it up you two lovebirds, we still have to run to Tanzaku Gai and find Tsunade!"

Shooting apart from each other at what seemed like light speed they both blushed, although where Naruto's was faint Hinata glowed like a Christmas tree. For Hinata this only lasted seconds as her mind processed the command her blush disappeared and she stood in preparation for running.

This strange reaction caused her three companions to stare at her, each with their own thoughts about the matter. Naruto was staring at her in confusion 'What's up with Hinata?' he thought to himself while ensuring that neither his teammates nor the Kyuubi could hear him.

Sasuke looked upon her with both clear feelings knowledge and relief flirting across his face; 'Well I guess it's not just me, but what is happening to us?'

Finally Jiraiya barely hid the look of horror from his face, 'What did they do to these kids? They couldn't have…not to children…could they?' Forcing himself from his fears and back to reality Jiraiya ordered "Let's go!" and started running, ninja style, to Tanzaku Gai, no matter what they had to get there first.

**

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The other side of Tanzaku Gai:

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**

Two men stood atop the tallest roof of Tanzaku castle, the elder of the two was a pale white man with long black hair and was missing his right arm, it appeared to have torn from his body, along with most of his right shoulder. Standing next to him was a young man, in his late teens early twenties, with silver hair that didn't match his age. The silver haired man was supporting the pale man, who looked as if he was unable to move.

"Don't worry Orochimaru-Sama; our spies have assured us that she there, I'm certain she will heal your arms once she hears your offer." The silver haired man offered to the pale man, Orochimaru, who cackled in return.

"Yes, and I'll keep my offer, I'll summon her brother and lover…And kill her with them. Tsunade should have accepted my offer to join me years ago, now she's going to do me one last favor before I dispose of her." Even as Orochimaru talked it was easy to tell how severe his injury was. Only his face moved nothing below his head, not even his neck, moved.

"But Orochimaru-Sama, why didn't you allow me to bring the sound four, or at least one of your body guards? I couldn't even restore your ability to walk let alone fight." Questioned the silver haired man as he swept his vision across the town below, looking for any trace of Tsunade's distinctive blond hair.

"We need not worry about Tsunade, one drop of blood and she's harmless, and any subordinate that would be willing to serve me and not take advantage of my current condition would be too weak to help. Don't be foolish Kabuto, just hurry up and find her." The newly named silver haired many simply nodded in response to his master's orders.

**

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AN:**

Hello, it's been forever since I last updated, far too long. But my muse has taken to taunting me, abandoning me when I have the time to write and constantly plaguing me when I lack the time. Although on a more cheery note I'm off to a good start at uni. Things are going well, and in six weeks I'll have plenty of time to write, assuming my muse doesn't abandon me again.

Never fear, no matter what this story will be finished.

On the weather; as I've been portraying, or at least trying, in the story Kyuubi is not some angry demon, or mindless beast, it's a natural part of the elemental lands (specifically the land of fire's) environment. Sealing it is like removing an entire species from the environment, which can have devastating effects. In this case the Kyuubi acts as a giant ball of intense heat; it warms the entire country, serving to help prevent cyclones, and the ignition source of many of those fires.

Jutsu:

**

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Name: **Doton: Engai no Doryuu aka "Dome of Earth"

**Rank: **C-rank

**Chakra use: **Variable dependant on size; one meter radius = C-rank

**Description: **Creates a solid dome of earth around the caster with a variable radius dependent upon the amount of chakra put into the Jutsu. This dome serves only to protect against the elements and Taijutsu as most Ninjutsu could penetrate the dome.

**Warning: **This Jutsu is not intended for combat use, the earthen wall that makes up the dome is made of loosely packed earth, and most Ninjutsu could easily penetrate the wall. This technique is intended to shelter Ninja from the raging elements. However it should be noted the dome has two main weaknesses; the first is that its nature prevents light from entering causing the inside of the dome to be pitch black, and the second is that while there are air holes they are insufficient to deal with a fire so any use of a fire for warmth or light is strongly advised against.

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Well that's all for now, see you when I see you.


	29. Discontinued

Hi everyone,

Sorry to say but for the foreseeable future this story is discontinued. I've had half of the next chapter sitting on my computer for months now but I've honestly lost my interest in the Naruto series and can't bring myself to write any more for this story.

I apologise to everyone who has enjoyed this story and hope you forgive me.


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